Electric power statistics, October 2014
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Released: 2014-12-18
Canada consumed 41.9 million megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity in October, down 4.5% from the same month in 2013. With lower demand, total generation in Canada dropped 5.8% to 45.0 million MWh. A 9.8% reduction in hydro power generation led the decline in overall power generation, which has decreased on a year-over-year basis for the past seven months. Flows in and out of Canada were also curtailed, with exports dropping 19.7% to 3.8 million MWh, while imports fell 20.0% to 0.7 million MWh.
Chart 1
Electricity generation and consumption
Quebec was the largest contributor to Canada's decline in hydro power generation, as the province's electricity production fell 9.7% from October 2013 to 14.1 million MWh. In six of the past seven months, Quebec has posted year-over-year declines in hydro generation, driven by lower demand in the province.
Manitoba (-26.3%), British Columbia (-8.1%), and Newfoundland and Labrador (-8.3%) also contributed to the decline in overall power generation. Like Quebec, these three provinces are predominately powered by hydro generation. While Manitoba's lower production was attributable to lower than normal precipitation in October, both British Columbia and Newfoundland and Labrador were mainly affected by lower demand.
Tempering the decline in electric power generation was New Brunswick, where electricity production rose 28.1% in October to 1.2 million MWh. The gain was the result of higher hydro and nuclear generation. The significant increase in nuclear generation reported for October 2014 reflected a maintenance shutdown in October 2013. Hydro generation rose 28.2% to 0.2 million MWh as a result of high levels of precipitation. While generation rose, demand in New Brunswick slipped 4.9% to 1.0 million MWh, resulting in a large increase in exports to the United States.
Note to readers
The purpose of this report is to produce a consistent monthly indicator of the supply of electricity in Canada, a key input in the calculation of monthly gross domestic product.
Total net electricity generation for Canada, the provinces and the territories combines all of the electricity generated from sources, including hydro, steam, nuclear, internal combustion, wind, solar and tidal.
Total available electricity is the total electricity generation, minus deliveries, plus receipts of electricity.
All data on imports and exports are provided directly by the National Energy Board.
Data for May, June, July, August, and September 2014 have been revised.
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