{"id":802437,"date":"2026-07-15T00:45:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T00:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/802437\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T00:45:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T00:45:12","slug":"provinces-likely-to-oppose-ottawas-electricity-trading-push-report-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/802437\/","title":{"rendered":"Provinces likely to oppose Ottawa\u2019s electricity trading push, report finds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

B.C. Premier David Eby, centre, and BC Hydro President and CEO Charlotte Mitha, front right, during a tour of the John Horgan Dam in Fort St. John, B.C., on Tuesday.DARRYL DYCK\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Key power-producing provinces are likely to oppose the federal government\u2019s latest push to increase interprovincial trade in electricity, a new study argues.<\/p>\n

The report<\/a>, published on Monday by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, says the federal government\u2019s efforts to encourage construction of power transmission interties between Canada\u2019s provinces and territories imply significant reforms to provincial electricity systems \u2013 which might include breaking up vertically integrated utilities such as Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec, BC Hydro and Manitoba Hydro, and utilities losing the ability to apply premium prices to exported power. Quebec, British Columbia and Manitoba would likely oppose such reforms.<\/p>\n

The report\u2019s author, Edgardo Sepulveda, is an economist who focuses on utilities. He asserts that the federal government\u2019s national electricity strategy<\/a>, released in May, presupposes that more provinces will follow the lead of Ontario and Alberta, which restructured their power sectors decades ago. <\/p>\n

Alberta and Ontario introduced legislation that removed utilities\u2019 ability to decide whether they trade electricity, and on what terms. Both provinces clear electricity trades using a single wholesale clearing price \u2013 a level of integration typically associated with creating a national grid.<\/p>\n

Both provinces also broke up monolithic utilities like Ontario Hydro, which not only generated power but also controlled transmission throughout the province. The idea was to foster increased competition; vertically integrated utilities might discriminate against competitors seeking to connect new power plants to the grid, or when buying their electricity.<\/p>\n

Ottawa wants to double electricity supply. Provinces will determine whether it happens<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr. Sepulveda said the federal government\u2019s arguments concerning the benefits of increased interprovincial electricity trade \u2013 including billions of dollars in saved costs \u2013 rely heavily on studies and simulations that assume monolithic utilities have already been broken up. But that\u2019s neither necessary nor desirable in much of Canada, he contends.<\/p>\n

Quebec, British Columbia and Manitoba have been successful at building power systems that allow them to export power at a significant profit. Those profits help lower residents\u2019 power bills. These same provinces are home to vertically integrated utilities: Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec, BC Hydro and Manitoba Hydro. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese provinces would most certainly resist any federal move that would reverse a deliberate, decades-long policy choice that continues to pay off for their residents,\u201d Mr. Sepulveda wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe federal government must resist the temptation to impose its will.\u201d<\/p>\n

Natural Resources Canada did not respond to requests for comment for this story on Tuesday afternoon. But in advocating for increased interprovincial electricity trade, the federal government has been careful to acknowledge that provinces have primary jurisdiction over electricity. It has not explicitly stated that it intends to pressure provinces to adopt wholesale electricity prices or break up vertically integrated utilities. <\/p>\n

Ontario\u2019s proposed nuclear plants could cost nearly $300-billion, study finds<\/a><\/p>\n

For years, the federal government has promoted interprovincial electricity intertie projects such as the so-called Atlantic Loop, which would have run more than 1,000 kilometres from Quebec into New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Ottawa has supported such projects by offering financing through various federal programs and institutions such as the Canada Infrastructure Bank. But while some modest intertie projects have moved forward, visions of broader integration have remained elusive. <\/p>\n

In a document<\/a> promoting its national electricity strategy, the government again urged greater co-operation to build interties and regional co-ordination of electricity systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe limitations of Canada\u2019s largely isolated provincial grids are becoming more apparent, particularly in comparison to the more integrated regional systems in the U.S. or the highly interconnected electricity markets of Europe.\u201d <\/p>\n

In March, Ontario\u2019s government announced that it had reached a \u201clandmark\u201d agreement with most provinces and territories (Quebec and Newfoundland being noteworthy holdouts) to advance toward building new interties across the country. Ontario said the agreement \u201creflects a shared commitment to build a truly Canadian electricity grid.\u201d<\/p>\n

One key claim supporting calls for greater integration is that Canada\u2019s provinces trade more electricity with U.S. states than they do with each other \u2013 calls that have grown louder as relations between the two countries deteriorated. Mr. Sepulveda, who compiled 70 years of data about electricity trade, said the claim is simply untrue.<\/p>\n

\u201cInterprovincial trade volumes have exceeded US export volumes in most years since 1955,\u201d he wrote. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: B.C. Premier David Eby, centre, and BC Hydro President and CEO Charlotte Mitha,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":802438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,20739,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-802437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-ottawa","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802437","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=802437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/802438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=802437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=802437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=802437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}