Electricity Sector Encouraged By Premiers’ Canadian Energy Strategy

The Canadian Electricity Association (CEA) is encouraged by the integration of electricity into the Council of the Federation’s Canadian Energy Strategy, released late last week.

“The premiers captured the indispensable importance that electricity plays in the economic life of Canada, and in the everyday lives of Canadians,” said Sergio Marchi, CEA’s President and CEO. “Electricity is essential to our prosperity and high quality of life, and the proposed Energy Strategy highlights electricity as a central part of the plan moving forward.”

CEA formally submitted a report to the Council of the Federation in 2013, entitled Power for the Future: Electricity’s Role in a Canadian Energy Strategy. This report contained seven recommendations for premiers’ consideration, ranging from infrastructure to innovation to market diversification (see below). Since the report’s release, CEA has continued to advocate these principles on behalf of its membership.

CEA was pleased that the council addressed most of its recommendations. However, the strategy did not fully recognize the unique challenges of, and the critical need for, infrastructure investment in the electricity sector, said CEA in a statement. In addition, the report did not address the changing relationship between customers and their energy service providers.

“The premiers’ work in developing this strategy is hugely important for Canada,” added Marchi. “I remain hopeful that the four committees established will offer opportunities to further strengthen a number of these provisions.”

In its 2013 report, CEA encourages premiers and their governments to
1. ensure electricity is featured prominently in the Canadian energy strategy since it powers our economy as well as our homes, businesses and lifestyles.
2. remove regulatory impediments to much-needed electricity infrastructure investments as we build a safe, reliable, affordable system for the next generation.
3. think long-term. The electricity industry renews and replaces its infrastructure at a much slower capital stock turnover rate than most other industries. What we build in the next five to 10 years will be with us until 2050.
4. adopt updated pricing mechanisms allowing fort he provision of products and services tailored to specific population segments and bundling of rates and services to address their needs.
5. support innovation in the electricity sector:
•    see utilities as ‘test beds’ of innovation
•    institutionalize a more adaptive regulatory environ- ment by broadening the mandate of regulators and policy-makers to include the promotion of innovation and engagement with utilities on how to stimulate research and development
•    support measures that cost-effectively deliver emis- sion reductions and enable intermittent renewable technologies
6. Take a balanced approach to market diversification by recognizing that it applies not only to oil and gas exports to Asian markets. It also includes further enhancement and strengthening of the North American grid and exports of Canadian electricity into the U.S. market.
7. Coordinate and cooperate on identifying new infra- structure needs and addressing aging infrastructure on the North American grid:
•    ensure that any market-based solution to combat climate change that incorporates the electricity sector recognizes the integrated nature of the North American electricity market.

Read the CEA report.