Electricity supply and disposition, 2023 (final)

Electricity supply

The total amount of electricity generated in Canada decreased by 3.9% to 618.3 million megawatt-hours (MWh) in 2023, a fall of 24.9 million MWh from the previous year.

The main driver for the decrease was a 9.3% (-36.6 million MWh) decline in hydro generation in 2023. This decrease in hydro generation was primarily due to a drought throughout most of the country (except for the Atlantic provinces). Hydroelectric generation fell by 9.7% (-19.6 million MWh) in Quebec, 22.8% (-14.4 million MWh) in British Columbia and 12.1% (-4.4 million MWh) in Manitoba. Except for hydro generation, all other renewable generation types saw a year-over-year increase in 2023 as provinces increasingly adopted these renewable generation types.

By renewable generation type, hydro, wind and solar accounted for 65.1% of total electricity production in 2023. Hydro remained the single largest contributor to Canada's electricity mix and generated 57.8% of electricity production. Quebec produced 51.4% of the hydro electricity generated in Canada.

Total thermal generation in Canada was up 4.4% in 2023 compared with the previous year (215.7 million MWh). Thermal generation by industries (+12.9%) and by utilities (+3.0%) were also up compared with 2022. The largest increase came from the Ontario utilities sector (99.2 million MWh), which was up 4.4% in 2023. Alberta and New Brunswick both saw sizable increases in thermal generation. Alberta was up 17.5% in the industries sector (24.9 million MWh) and New Brunswick was also up 16.1% in the utilities sector (9.1 million MWh) . For more information on thermal generation in Canada, see the release Electric power thermal generating station fuel consumption, 2023 (final).

Electricity trade

In 2023, total exports of electricity from Canada to the United States decreased by 26.8% (-17.6 million MWh). Total imports from the United States increased by 47.5% (+6.7 million MWh) compared with the previous year. The largest exporters of electricity to the United States in 2023 were Ontario (15.2 million MWh), Quebec (13.4 million MWh) and Manitoba (7.2 million MWh). British Columbia remains the largest importer of electricity, importing 16.8 million MWh of electricity from the United States.

Electricity use

In 2023, sales volumes of electricity delivered to end-use consumers increased by 0.2% to 496.9 million MWh, compared with 2022. Total sales dollar value increased to $50.5 billion in 2023, an increase of 3.3%. Among the customer segments, the sales volumes for mining and manufacturing (+1.7%) agriculture (+1.2%), and other sales (+0.6%) increased year over year.

End-user electricity sales volumes in residential (-1.5%) decreased year over year, caused in part by lower heating degree days.