New Quebec energy bill looks to reshape the sector

In a promotional video, Quebec Energy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon loads a dishwasher at night, as the minister informs Quebecers that they will need to get in the habit of using electricity at different times in the day.

"You think the government will tell the consumer what to do at 2 o'clock in the morning? No. What the government needs to do is to allow modulation to take place," he said.

Quebec's new energy bill would cap residential rate hikes at three per cent per year until 2026. After that, it's up to Quebec's energy board and it must offer different rates to incentivize people to consume energy outside of peak periods or to consume less.

"We have now established that the regie de l'energie, every three years, will establish the tariffs based on cost of service increment or decrement," said Fitzgibbon.

McGill University associate professor Francois Bouffard said that this could be a positive measure, especially for Hydro-Quebec clients who experience power outages every few months.

"I would hope that this would help incentivize reliability on the system while at the same time we try to decarbonize," said Bouffard.

The proposed legislation aims to restructure the energy sector. While Fitzgibbon wants Quebec to become the first carbon-neutral state in North America, he said the province is not yet ready for the increase in demand.

"We're clearly not ready because a lot of people do not want new dams, a lot of people do not want to have wind farms next to their homes," he said.

Bill 69 also ends special rates for the industrial sector and private energy producers will be allowed to sell electricity to a neighbour.

Bouffard said this is a major departure.

"It also enables a project like TES which is close to Shawinigan which is quite controversial as we speak today," he said.

The fine details will be revisited at length in the fall when consultations on the bill begin.