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Yukon Electricity Demand Record underscores peak load growth as winter cold snaps drive heating, lighting, and EV charging, blending hydro, LNG, and diesel with renewable energy and planned grid-scale battery storage in Whitehorse.

Key Points

It is the territory's new peak electricity load, reflecting winter demand, electric heating, EVs, and mixed generation.

✅ New peak: 104.42 MW, surpassing 2020 record of 103.84 MW

✅ Winter peaks met with hydro, LNG, diesel, and renewables mix

✅ Customers urged to shift use off peak hours and use timers

A new record for electricity demand has been set in Yukon. The territory recorded a peak of 104.42 megawatts, according to a news release from Yukon Energy.

The new record is about a half a megawatt higher than the previous record of 103.84 megawatts recorded on Jan. 14, 2020.

While in general, over 90 per cent of the electricity generated in Yukon comes from renewable resources each year, with initiatives such as new wind turbines expanding capacity, during periods of high electricity use each winter, Yukon Energy has to use its hydro, liquefied natural gas and diesel resources to generate the electricity, the release says.

But when it comes to setting records, Andrew Hall, CEO of Yukon Energy, says it's not that unusual.

"Typically, during the winter, when the weather is cold, demand for electricity in the Yukon reaches its maximum. And that's because folks use more electricity for heating their homes, for cooking meals, there's more lighting demand, because the days are shorter," he said.

"It usually happens either in December or sometimes in January, when we get a cold snap."

He said generally over the years, electricity demand has grown.

"We get new home construction, construction of new apartment buildings. And typically, those new homes are all heated by electricity, maybe not all of them but the majority," Hall said.

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There are also other reasons, ones that are "in the name of climate change," Hall added.

That includes people trying to limit fossil fuel heating by swapping to electric heating. And, he said some Yukoners are switching to electric vehicles as incentives expand across the North.

"Over time, those two new demands, in the name of climate change, will also contribute to growing demand for electricity," he said.

While Yukon did reach this new all time high, Hall said the territory still hadn't hit the maximum capacity for the week, which was 118 megawatts, and discussions about a potential connection to the B.C. grid are part of long-term planning.

Yukon Energy's hydroelectric dam in Whitehorse. Yukon Energy's CEO, Andrew Hall, said demand of 104 megawatts wasn't unexpected, nor was it an emergency. The corporation has the ability to generate 118 megawatts. (Paul Tukker/CBC)
Tips to curve demand
"When we plan our system, we actually plan for a scenario, guided by the view that sustainability is key to the grid's future, where we actually lose our largest hydro generating facility," Hall said.

"We had plenty of generation available so it wasn't an emergency situation, and, even as other provinces face electricity shortages, it was more just an observation that hey, our peaks are growing."

He also said it was an opportunity to reach out to customers on ways to curve their demand for electricity around peak times, drawing on energy efficiency insights from other provinces, which is typically between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m., and between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., Monday to Friday.

For example, he said, people should consider running major appliances, like dishwashers, during non-peak hours, such as in the afternoon rather than in the morning or evening.

During winter peaks, people can also use a block heater timer on vehicles and turn down the thermostat by one or two degrees.

'We plan for each winter'
Hall said Yukon Energy is working to increase its peak output, including working on a large grid scale battery to be installed in Whitehorse, similar to Ontario's energy storage push now underway. 

When it comes to any added load from people working from home due to COVID-19, Hall said they haven't noticed any identifiable increase there.

"Presumably, if someone's working from home, you know, their computer is at home, and they're not using the computer at the office," he said.

Yukon Energy one step closer to having largest battery storage site in the North
He said there shouldn't be any concern for maxing out the capacity of electricity demand as Yukon moves into the colder winter months, since those days are forecast for.

"This number of 104 megawatts wasn't unexpected," he said, adding how much electricity is needed depends on the weather too.

"We plan for each winter."

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BC Hydro Rate Increase proposes a 2.3% hike from April, with BCUC review, aligning below inflation and funding clean energy, electrification, and grid upgrades across British Columbia while keeping electricity prices among North America's lowest.

Key Points

A proposed 2.3% BC Hydro hike from April, under BCUC review, funds clean energy and keeps average bills below inflation.

✅ Adds about $2 per month to average residential bill

✅ Sixth straight increase below inflation since 2018

✅ Supports renewable projects and grid modernization

The British Columbia government says the province’s Crown power utility is applying for a 2.3-per-cent rate increase starting in April, with higher BC Hydro rates previously outlined, adding about $2 a month to the average residential bill.

A statement from the Energy Ministry says it’s the sixth year in a row that BC Hydro has applied for an increase below the rate of inflation, similar to a 3 per cent rise noted in a separate approval, which still trailed inflation.

It says rates are currently 15.6 per cent lower than the cumulative rate of inflation over the last seven years, starting in 2017-2018, with a provincial rate freeze among past measures, and 12.4 per cent lower than the 10-year rates plan established by the previous government in 2013.

The ministry says the “modest” rate increase application comes after consideration of a variety of options and their long-term impacts, including scenarios like a 3.75% two-year path evaluated alongside others, and the B.C. Utilities Commission is expected to decide on the plan by the end of February.

Chris O’Riley, president of BC Hydro, says the rates application would keep electricity costs in the province among the lowest in North America, even as a BC Hydro fund surplus prompted calls for changes, while supporting investments in clean energy to power vehicles, homes and businesses.

Energy Minister Josie Osborne says it’s more important than ever to keep electricity bills down, especially as Ontario hydro rates increase in a separate jurisdiction, as the cost of living rises at rates that are unsustainable for many.

“Affordable, stable BC Hydro rates are good for people, businesses and climate as we work together to power our growing economy with renewable energy instead of fossil fuels,” Osborne says in a statement issued Monday.

Earlier this year, the ministry said BC Hydro provided $315 million in cost-of-living bill credits, while in another province Manitoba Hydro scaled back an increase to ease pressure, to families and small businesses in the province, including those who receive their electricity service from FortisBC or a municipal utility.

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Atlantic Canada Hurricane Resilience focuses on climate change adaptation: grid hardening, burying lines, coastline resiliency to sea-level rise, mixed forests, and aggressive tree trimming to reduce outages from hurricane-force winds and post-tropical storms.

Key Points

A strategy to harden grids, protect coasts, and manage forests to limit hurricane damage across Atlantic Canada.

✅ Grid hardening and selective undergrounding to cut outage risk.

✅ Coastal defenses: seawalls, dikes, and shoreline vegetation upgrades.

✅ Mixed forests and proactive tree trimming to reduce windfall damage.

In an era when storms with hurricane-force winds are expected to keep battering Atlantic Canada, experts say the region should make major changes to electrical grids, power utilities and shoreline defences and even the types of trees being planted.

Work continues today to reconnect customers after post-tropical storm Dorian knocked out power to 80 per cent of homes and businesses in Nova Scotia. By early afternoon there were 56,000 customers without electricity in the province, compared with 400,000 at the storm's peak on the weekend, a reminder that major outages can linger long after severe weather.

Recent scientific literature says 35 hurricanes -- not including post-tropical storms like Dorian -- have made landfall in the region since 1850, an average of one every five years that underscores the value of interprovincial connections like the Maritime Link for reliability.

Heavy rains and strong winds batter Shelburne, N.S. on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2019 as Hurricane Dorian approaches, making storm safety practices crucial for residents. (Suzette Belliveau/ CTV Atlantic)

Anthony Taylor, a forest ecologist scientist with Natural Resources Canada, wrote in a recent peer-reviewed paper that climate change is expected to increase the frequency of severe hurricanes.

He says promoting more mixed forests with hardwoods would reduce the rate of destruction caused by the storms.

Erni Wiebe, former director of distribution at Manitoba Hydro, says the storms should cause Atlantic utilities to rethink their view that burying lines is too expensive and to contemplate other long-term solutions such as the Maritime Link that enhance grid resilience.

Blair Feltmate, head of the Intact Centre on Climate Change at the University of Waterloo, says Atlantic Canada should also develop standards for coastline resiliency due to predictions of rising sea levels combining with the storms, while considering how delivery rate changes influence funding timelines.

He says that would mean a more rapid refurbishing of sea walls and dike systems, along with more shoreline vegetation.

Feltmate also calls for an aggressive tree-trimming program to limit power outages that he says "will otherwise continue to plague the Maritimes," while addressing risks like copper theft through better security.

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Smart Renewables and Electrification Pathways Program enables clean energy and grid modernization across Canada, funding wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, tidal, and storage to cut GHG emissions and accelerate electrification toward a net-zero economy.

Key Points

A $964M Canadian program funding clean power and grid upgrades to cut emissions and build net-zero electrified economy.

✅ Funds wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, tidal, and storage projects

✅ Modernizes grids for reliability, digitalization, and resilience

✅ Supports net-zero by 2050 with Indigenous and utility partners

Harnessing Canada's immense clean energy resources requires transformational investments to modernize our electricity grid. The Government of Canada is investing in renewable energy and upgrading the electricity grid, moving toward an electric, connected and clean economy, to make clean, affordable electricity options more accessible in communities across Canada.

The Honourable Seamus O'Regan Jr., Minister of Natural Resources, today launched a $964-million program, alongside a recent federal green electricity contract in Alberta that underscores momentum, to support smart renewable energy and grid modernization projects that will lower emissions by investing in clean energy technologies, like wind, solar, storage, hydro, geothermal and tidal energy across Atlantic Canada.

The Smart Renewables and Electrification Pathways Program (SREPs) supports building Canada's low-emissions energy future and a renewable, electrified economy through projects that focus on non-emitting, cleaner energy technologies, such as storage, and modernizing electricity system operations.

Investing in these technologies reduces greenhouse gas emissions by creating a cleaner, more connected electrical system, supporting progress toward zero-emissions electricity by 2035 goals, while helping Canada reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

Minister O'Regan launched the program during the Canadian Electricity Association's (CEA) virtual regulatory forum on Electricity Regulation & the Four Disruptors – Decarbonization, Decentralization, Digitalization and Democratization, highlighting evolving regulatory approaches as B.C. streamlines clean energy approvals to support deployment nationwide. The launch also coincides with Canadian Environment Week, which celebrates Canada's environmental accomplishments and encourages Canadians to contribute to conserving and protecting the environment.

Through SREPs and other programming, the government is working with provinces and territories, with the Prairie Provinces leading renewable growth in the years ahead, utilities, Indigenous partners and others, including diverse businesses and communities, to deliver these clean and reliable energy initiatives. With Canadian innovation, technology and skilled energy workers, we can provide more communities, households and businesses with an increased supply of clean electricity and a cleaner electrical grid.

To help interested stakeholders find information on SREPs, a new webpage has been launched, which includes a comprehensive guide for eligible projects.

This supports Canada's strengthened climate plan, A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy. Canada is advancing projects that support the clean grid of the future and seize opportunities in the global electricity market to boost competitiveness. Collectively with investments from the Fall Economic Statement 2020 and Budget 2021, Canada will achieve our climate change commitments and ensure a healthier environment and more prosperous economy for future generations.

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Iran-Iraq Power Grid Deals reinforce electricity and natural gas ties, upgrading transmission in Karbala and Najaf, repairing transformers, easing sanctions bottlenecks, and weighing GCC interconnection to diversify supply and reduce distribution losses across Iraq.

Key Points

Agreements to rehabilitate Iraq's grid, cut losses, and secure power via Iranian gas, electricity, and upgrades.

✅ Reduce distribution losses in Karbala and Najaf

✅ Repair and replace damaged distribution transformers

✅ Coordinate payments to TAVANIR amid US sanctions

Iran and Iraq have finalized two deals to rehabilitate and develop the power grid of Iraq, while Iran is upgrading thermal plants to combined cycle at home to save energy, IRNA cited the Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian.

Ardakanian met his Iraqi counterpart Majid Mahdi Hantoush in Tehran on Tuesday evening for talks on further energy cooperation on the sidelines of Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s trip to the Islamic Republic on his first foreign visit.

“It was decided that the contracts related to reducing losses on the electricity distribution network in the provinces of Karbala and Najaf, as well as the contract for repairing Iraq’s distribution transformers would be finalized and signed,” the Iranian minister said.

Iraq relies on Iran for natural gas that generates as much as 45 percent of its electricity, with Iran supplying 40% of Iraq’s power according to sector reports. Iran transmits another 1,200 MW directly, and has regional power hub plans as well, making itself an indispensable energy source for its Arab neighbor, but the United States is trying to pry Baghdad away from Tehran’s orbit.

The US has been enlisting its companies and allies such as Saudi Arabia to replace Iran as Iraq’s source of energy.

Iran’s money from exports of gas and electricity has accumulated in bank accounts in Iraq, because US sanctions are preventing Tehran from repatriating it.

In January, an official said the sanctions were giving Iran a run for five billion dollars, “sedimenting” at the Central Bank of Iraq, because Tehran could not access it.

Ardakanian said the issue was brought up in the discussions on Tuesday and it was agreed that “the payment of part of TAVANIR (Iran Power Generation and Transmission Company)’s claims will start from the end of July”.

The US administration is pushing for a deal between Washington, Baghdad and six Persian Gulf states to connect Iraq’s nationwide power grid to that of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council, while Uzbekistan looks to export power to Afghanistan as regional linkages expand.

The US State Department said in a statement last Thursday that the six countries that make up the (Persian) Gulf Cooperation Council Interconnection Authority (GCCIA) — Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the UAE — had affirmed their shared support for the project to supply electricity to Iraq.

Iraq needs more than 23,000 MW of electricity to meet its domestic demand, and is exploring nuclear power plans to tackle shortages, but years of war following the 2003 US invasion have left its power infrastructure in tatters and a deficit of some 7,000 MW.

In the past, officials in Baghdad have said there is no easy substitute to imports from Iran because it will take years to adequately build up Iraq’s energy infrastructure, and meeting summer electricity needs remains a persistent challenge.

They have said American demand acknowledges neither Iraq’s energy needs nor the complex relations between Baghdad and Tehran.

In addition to natural gas and electricity, Iraq imports a wide range of goods from Iran including food, agricultural products, home appliances, and air conditioners.

On Tuesday, the Iraqi prime minister said during a joint news conference with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani that the purpose of his trip to Tehran was to strengthen historical ties between the two countries, especially in light of the challenges they faced as a result of the coronavirus outbreak and the fall of oil prices.

“In the face of such challenges, we need coordination between the two countries in a way that serves the interests of Iran and Iraq.”

Both Iran and Iraq, Kadhimi said, suffer from economic problems, adding the two countries need comprehensive and inclusive cooperation to overcome them.

Kadhimi said Iran-Iraq relations are not merely due to the geographical location of the two countries and their 1,450-km border, adding the ties are based on religion and culture and rooted in history.

“I am reiterating to my brothers in the Islamic Republic of Iran that the Iraqi nation is eager to have excellent relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran based on the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of the two countries.”

Kadhimi said Iran and Iraq fought against terrorism and Takfiri groups together, and the Islamic Republic of Iran was one of the first countries to stand by Iraq.

“We will not forget this. That is why Iraq has stood with Iran to help it overcome economic challenges and turned to a big market for trade with Iran,” he said.

“We seek stability in Iraq and our philosophy and view of Iran is that we consider Iran a stable, strong, prosperous and progressive country, and this fact is in the interest of Iraq and the territorial integrity of the region,” he added.

According to Kadhimi, the two sides discussed implementing agreements between them, including connecting their railway through Khorramshahr in Iran and Basra in Iraq, adding he was very confident the agreements would be implemented soon.

Iraq’s delegation included the ministers of foreign affairs, finance, health, and planning, as well as Kadhimi’s national security adviser, some of whom also met their Iranian counterparts.

Last year, Iran’s exports to Iraq amounted to nearly $9 billion, IRNA reported. It said the two nations will discuss increasing that amount to $20 billion.

“The two governments’ will is to expand bilateral trade to $20 billion,” Rouhani said after an hour-long meeting with the Iraqi prime minister.

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Manitoba Hydro Allegations Investigation reveals RCMP and OPP probes into 1960s abuses in northern Manitoba, affecting Fox Lake Cree Nation, citing racism, discrimination, sexual assault, and oversight by the IIU and Clean Environment Commission.

Key Points

A coordinated probe into historic abuses tied to Manitoba Hydro projects, led by OPP and IIU after RCMP referral.

✅ OPP to investigate historical cases involving Hydro staff and contractors.

✅ IIU to examine any allegations implicating Manitoba RCMP officers.

✅ Findings follow CEC report on racism and abuse near Fox Lake.

Manitoba RCMP have called in outside investigators to probe alleged assaults linked to hydro projects in the province’s north during the 1960s.

RCMP say any historical criminal investigations involving Manitoba Hydro employees or contractors will be handled by the Ontario Provincial Police.

The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba, the province’s police watchdog, will investigate any allegations involving RCMP officers.

A report released last month by an arm’s-length review agency outlined racism, discrimination and sexual abuse at the Crown-owned utility’s work sites dating back decades, while projects like Site C COVID-19 updates provide contemporary examples of reporting.

Much of the development at that time was centered around the community of Gillam and the nearby Fox Lake Cree Nation.

The report said the presence of a largely male construction workforce led to the sexual abuse of Indigenous women, some of whom said their complaints were ignored by the RCMP, and in a different context, Hydro One worker injury highlights safety risks in the sector.

Premier Brian Pallister says his government is taking the right approach to addressing alleged sexual assaults and racism by Manitoba Hydro workers against members of a remote northern First Nation, while pandemic cost-cutting at Manitoba Hydro has shaped recent operations.

Pallister made his first public comments about the allegations after a private meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday evening, as COVID-19 reshaped Saskatchewan and other Prairie priorities were in focus.

The allegations, made by members of Fox Lake Cree Nation, were revealed in a report produced by the Clean Environment Commission. The report was released by the provincial government in August, although it was completed in May.

Allegations against Manitoba Hydro workers: What you need to know

"My reaction would be that's deplorable behaviour, and I have to admit, my puzzlement is why this wasn't investigated sooner or didn't come to light sooner," Pallister said, adding that he believes his government has taken the right approach by referring the information to the RCMP.

Some members of Fox Lake Cree Nation say the government didn't give them any advance notice of the release of the report, so the community was traumatized when it hit the news.

Pallister said his government didn't want to delay the release of the report.

'Pure trauma': Fox Lake members stricken after hasty release of troubling report

"I think the right thing to do is release the report. A lot of this information was in the public domain over the last number of weeks and months anyway. It wasn't the case of it being new in that respect," he said.

However, he accepted criticism of the timeline of the report's release.

"I would rather accept those criticisms, than accept the argument that we were in any way covering up information that is important to be released," he said.

Fox Lake Chief Walter Spence has said he expects Pallister to visit the community.

The premier said Tuesday he was not sure of the effectiveness of such a trip.

"I think most of the communities would prefer that there be electricity jobs for young Canadians created in their communities, that there be better water, many other tangible things rather than symbolism," he said.

"That's what I'm hearing and I've been in dozens of First Nations communities in the last two years."

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