{"id":666675,"date":"2026-05-13T12:46:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T12:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/666675\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T12:46:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T12:46:09","slug":"quebecs-low-electricity-rates-impacting-equalization-payments-to-other-provinces-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/666675\/","title":{"rendered":"Quebec\u2019s Low Electricity Rates Impacting Equalization Payments to Other Provinces: Report"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Quebec's<\/p>\n

Hydro Quebec (via Hydro Quebec)<\/p>\n

The Fraser Institute says low electricity rates in Quebec are affecting equalization payments to other recipient provinces by more than $3 billion. <\/p>\n

Newfoundland and Labrador is considered a \u201chave\u201d province under the equalization formula and does not receive payments under the program \u2013 something the provincial government has been fighting to change<\/a> for some time.<\/p>\n

A court challenge launched by the provincial government<\/a> in 2024 continues to wind its way through the courts.<\/p>\n

Quebecers currently enjoy some of the lowest electricity rates in the country and because Quebec is considered a \u201chave not\u201d province under the federal government\u2019s equalization program, increasing those rates would mean the province would lose out on equalization payments. <\/p>\n

The think tank\u2019s study found that under current equalization rules, a four cent increase in electricity prices in Quebec would increase equalization payments to other provinces by about $3.64 billion.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because the formula requires equalization payments to continue growing over time, even when fiscal capacity gaps shrink. As a result says the Fraser Institute, Quebec\u2019s revenues redistribute payments among recipient provinces instead of lowering total expenditures. <\/p>\n

It says if the continuous-growth feature were removed, a four cent increase in Quebec electricity prices would reduce the total equalization envelope by roughly $3.9 billion \u2013 thereby lowering costs for federal taxpayers. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hydro Quebec (via Hydro Quebec) The Fraser Institute says low electricity rates in Quebec are affecting equalization…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":666676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,49,48],"class_list":["post-666675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=666675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/666676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=666675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=666675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=666675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}