U.S. Affairs

Issue Summary | Issue Management |  Resource Library 

Issue Summary

The international network of high voltage lines connecting customers in Canada and the United States is the critical enabler of the integrated North American economy.  The interconnected grid affords both nations an advantageous measure of reliability and energy security, and helps service the basic day-to-day needs of millions of people all across the continent.

With over 30 major transmission interconnections linking Canada and the U.S., the cross-border flow of electricity is an established and growing part of the larger energy trade relationship enjoyed by the two countries.  Both Canada and the U.S. serve as vital partners for the other in maintaining the efficient delivery of competitively priced electricity across North America.

The Canadian Electricity Association (CEA) is actively involved in the promotion of Canadian electricity industry interests in the United States.  With supply constraints in the U.S., the competitive price of Canadian power, the rising interest in business opportunities for Canadian companies in the U.S. market, and the growing attention to environmental cooperation, it is increasingly important that Canadian electricity industry interests be represented in Washington. 

Ongoing issues of interest for CEA and its members vis-à-vis the United States include the following: 
 

• Climate change:  In 2009, the U.S. Congress proposed several initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), including the establishment of a nationwide cap-and-trade program.  The potential impact of these proposals on the Canadian electricity industry remains unclear.  CEA believes that Canada and the U.S. stand to gain from aligning their GHG regimes to ensure meaningful environmental improvements do not erect barriers to bilateral electricity trade.
• Renewable electricity standards (RES):  RES ensure a minimum percentage of renewable energy in the mix of electricity resources serving a particular jurisdiction.  With approximately 30 U.S. states having adopted such mandates, many members of the U.S. government are pushing for a nationwide standard.  CEA strongly believes that Canadian power exports present an effective and environmentally preferable solution for U.S. retailers looking to satisfy RES obligations.  CEA seeks RES language that is inclusive of Canadian exports, including output from large hydropower facilities. 
• Cyber security:  For several years, CEA has engaged in discussions with our U.S. counterparts on protecting the grid against cyber security risks.  CEA is concerned by any effort to resolve these risks in a manner which ignores the importance of coordinating with Canadians and which bypasses the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) framework set-up to enable collaboration amongst all relevant stakeholders in mitigating common threats to the grid.  CEA supports strengthening NERC’s role as a forum for addressing cyber security concerns.
• Open access:  Starting in the mid-1990s, the U.S. government undertook a series of steps to make wholesale electricity markets in the U.S. more competitive, with the aim of bringing greater amounts of lower cost power to electricity consumers.  The cornerstone of this effort was reducing any undue discrimination in providing access for customers and competitive power suppliers to the vast transmission networks which transport electricity across America.  As efforts to reform the design of U.S. power markets have unfolded, CEA has requested its U.S. partners to recognize the integrated nature of the North American electricity system and to respect international agreements such as NAFTA which prohibit discrimination between foreign and domestic sources of energy based on nationality.
• Smart Grid:  The movement towards the “Smart Grid” is a leading example of the technological transformation underway in the North American electricity sector.  Utilities across Canada and the U.S. are taking advantage of the enormous potential of Smart Grid technologies to improve their overall efficiency, better manage system performance and increase consumer control over electricity use.  With these benefits come challenges, though.  With Smart Grid components set to become a standard feature of new electrical infrastructure – including cross-border transmission infrastructure – Canada-U.S. coordination on the development of interoperability standards governing Smart Grid technologies will be critical to ensuring such technologies can be deployed securely, reliably and expediently.  

CEA began devoting resources to a coordinated program on U.S. Affairs in 1999 and launched a separately funded U.S. Affairs Strategy in 2001, which has grown significantly over the past several years.  In April 2010, CEA held its twelfth annual policy forum in Washington and published the latest in its series of annual North American Policy Papers.

CEA’s U.S. Affairs work is jointly sponsored by the Generation, Transmission and Power Marketer’s Councils.

Issue Management

Key Contact

Patrick Brown
Director, U.S. Affairs
(613) 627-4124
brown@electricity.ca
 

Resource Library

CEA NORTH AMERICAN POLICY PAPERS 
 

• 2010 - Sustainable Electricity as the Foundation for Economic Recovery in North America
• 2009 - Enhancing Our Integrated Electricity System: An Opportunity to Build on Success
• 2008 - Providing Reliable Energy in a Time of Constraints: A North American Concern
• 2007 - The Integrated North American Electricity Market: Energy Security: A north American Concern
• 2006 - The Integrated North American Electricity Market: Investment in Electricity Infrastructure and Supply: A North American Concern 
• 2005 - The Integrated North American Electricity Market: Assuring an Adequate Supply of Electricity Through Cross-Border cooperation and Trade
  
• 2004 - The Integrated North American Electricity Market – A Bi-National Model for Securing a Reliable Supply of Electricity 
• 2003 - The Integrated North American Electricity Market: Enhancing Opportunities for Cross Border Trading and Environmental Performance 
  
• 2002 - Developing a North American Energy Perspective: A Proposal for Action on Electricity
• 2001 – Developing a North American Energy Perspective: A Proposal for Action on Electricity   

U.S. REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE FILINGS

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission  

• Prepared Statement of the Canadian Electricity Association – FERC Technical Conference on Priorities for Addressing Risks to the Bulk-Power System (February 2011)
• Priorities for Addressing Risks to the Reliability of the Bulk-Power System – Supplemental Comments of the Canadian Electricity Association on the February 8, 2011 Technical Conference (March 2011)
• Reliability Standards Development and NERC and Regional Entity Enforcement – Comments of the Canadian Electricity Association on the July 6, 2010 Reliability Standards Development Technical Conference (July 2010)
• Interpretation of Transmission Planning Reliability Standard – Comments Of The Edison Electric Institute, The American Public Power Association, The Canadian Electricity Association, The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, The Transmission Access Policy Study Group, And The Electric Power Supply Association (May 2010)
• North American Electric Reliability Corporation – Motion to Intervene, Request for Clarification, and, in the Alternative, Request for Rehearing of the Canadian Electricity Association of Order Directing NERC to Propose Modification of Electric Reliability Organization Rules of Procedure (April 2010)
• North American Electric Reliability Corporation – Request of the Canadian Electricity Association For Clarification, or in the Alternative, Rehearing of the Commission’s December 19, 2008 Order  (January 2009)
• North American Electric Reliability Corporation – Comments of the Canadian Electricity Association  (August 2008)
• Mandatory Reliability Standards for Critical Infrastructure Protection – Comments of the Canadian Electricity Association  (October 2007)
• North American Electric Reliability Corporation – Request of the Canadian Electricity Association For Clarification of Order Clarifying Procedures  (July 2007)
• North American Electric Reliability Corporation – Request of the Canadian Electricity Association For Clarification, or in the Alternative, For Rehearing, of Order on Compliance Filing  (March 2007)
• Mandatory Reliability Standards for the Bulk-Power System – Comments of the Canadian Electricity Association  (December 2006)
• Preventing Undue Discrimination And Preference in Transmission Services – Reply Comments of the Canadian Electricity Association  (September 2006)
• Mandatory Reliability Standards for the Bulk-Power System – Comments of the Canadian Electricity Association  (June 2006)
• Notice of Inquiry on Preventing Undue Discrimination And Preference in Transmission Services – Comments of the Canadian Electricity Association  (November 2005)
• Rules Concerning Certification of the Electric Reliability Organization; and Procedures for the Establishment, Approval and Enforcement of Electric Reliability Standards – Comments of the Canadian Electricity Association  (October 2005)
• Remedying Undue Discrimination Through Open Access Transmission Service and Standard Electricity Market Design – Comments of the Canadian Electricity Association  (November 2002)
    

Department of Energy

• Protest of the Canadian Electricity Association and the Electric Power Supply Association to Sierra Club’s Notice of Intervention and Motion to Intervene (May 2011)
• Notice of Inquiry Regarding Considerations For Transmission Congestion Study and Designation of National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors – Comments of the Canadian Electricity Association  (March 2006)
  
  

U.S. Congress & Supreme Court 

• Comments of the Canadian Electricity Association on the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s Clean Energy Standard White Paper – Additional Topics (April 2011)
• Comments of the Canadian Electricity Association on the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s Clean Energy Standard White Paper – Question 2 (April 2011)
• Comments of the Canadian Electricity Association on the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s Clean Energy Standard White Paper – Executive Summary (April 2011)
• Statement for the Record of the Canadian Electricity Association – Before the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, and Science and Technology Hearing on “Securing The Modern Electric Grid From Physical and Cyber Attacks”  (July 2009)
• Statement for the Record of the Canadian Electricity Association – Before the House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality Hearing on “Protecting the Electric Grid from Cyber-Security Threats”  (September 2008)
• CEA Amicus Brief to the U.S. Supreme Court on the Sanctity of Power Contracts  (August 2007)
  

OTHER PUBLICATIONS 

• Protecting the Integrated North American Grid – A Canadian Perspective (May 2011)
• White Paper on the Need for Inter-Governmental Agreements for Cross-Border Investigations  (March 2009)
• The North American Electric Power Industry’s Top Priority Is a Reliable and Secure Bulk Power System (January 2009)

RELEVANT LINKS

• North American Electric Reliability Council
• Edison Electric Institute
• U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• U.S. Energy Information Administration
• Canadian Embassy in Washington
• U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
• U.S. Department of Energy
• U.S. Senate
• U.S. House of Representatives
• American Public Power Association
• Electric Power Supply Association
• National Rural Electric Cooperative Association
• National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners