Current Affairs

Issue 85 - January 2026

Ringing in the new year with Electricity Canada!

Electricity Canada is kicking off the new year and ready to take on new challenges! Current Affairs sits down with our President and CEO Francis Bradley to discuss 2026 predictions, opportunities on the horizon and of course, the Flux Capacitor podcast.

Hi Francis, thank you for joining us! Last year when we interviewed you about the year ahead in 2025, you said the big issues were going to be political change and meeting growing demand. How do you think those predictions went?

I think we, as a sector, encountered both!
On the Canadian side of things, at the very beginning of the year, there was this assumption that we were going to be facing a landslide victory by the Conservatives and it would be a wholesale change. In the end that didn't happen. We had another Liberal government elected, but it is a very, very different Liberal government and it has a very different approach to all of the files that are of interest to us.

Politically, we have moved beyond talking about how the future is going to be different. We have a government that seems to be interested in trying to address some of the changes that are going to be required for us to be able to meet those challenges in the cross-border issue.

This time last year, we were facing the possibility of tariffs because the President-Elect who was not yet President at the time, was musing about the potential for tariffs. And of course, we've seen tariffs, and they have had significant impact on the Canadian economy as a whole.

In terms of growing electricity demand, we have seen in some quarters a little bit less demand because we have at least one quarter of an economic downturn in the country. Some sectors are feeling it, but on the other hand, we've now got a better idea of what the rise of artificial intelligence is going to mean for the electricity. We don't know exactly all the contours of that, but the two things that we do know, number one, we're going to see even more demand than we thought for data centres and hyperscalers. And two, we have a government in Ottawa that seems very determined that we will have a sovereign AI sector in this country, which was not something that was part of the lexicon even a year ago.

What is that going to mean for electricity demand going forward? Over the years we have talked about how critically important reliability is, but when electricity is meeting barely more than 20% demand of end use energy in this country, reliability is important, but it is not as important as it will be in the future when electricity meets far more of end use energy demand which is the way that AI is powered in the future.

I think the critical need for reliability will only be greater because of our increasing reliance on AI. And it sounds as though there’s a political desire here in Ottawa to make sure that there is the sovereign approach to data centres, artificial intelligence, and our Canadian electronic infrastructure in the future. We don’t know exactly what it’s going to look like, but it is going to be huge.

What do you think will be facing the electricity sector in 2026 besides data centres and hyperscalers?

It is going to be greater demand and how we accommodate that greater demand in the context of ensuring that we have sovereign capability in different critical sectors. It isn't just AI. I've spent time on the Hill last week on the issue of steel- every G-7 country has a strong domestic steel sector. We are facing some significant challenges, however Canada has so much natural resources to be able to fuel a steel sector. While we're seeing some short-term challenges with recent layoffs announced at Algoma, but the long-term prospect is going to be very positive.

The challenges that we've been facing from an international trade standpoint are short-to-medium-term. Over the long-term Canada has the resources and has the energy to be what our current government wants us to be - a superpower in these spaces. Whether it's electricity or critical minerals or just the non-critical minerals.

While rhetoric sometimes coming from the White House is "we don't need anything that Canada has”’, we know that that is demonstrably not true.

We're a year into Electricity Canada's strategic plan focused on Economic Growth and Optimization, Resilience and Energy Security. How are we as an association building on these "big rocks"?

We’re in a place right now where our board committees are now getting off the ground, are up to speed and have a deeper understanding of what we are doing in our councils and committees.

For the three strategic goals, I think what we're going to see in 2026 is very direct and specific strategic direction coming from these board committees that will help us be even more focused, more targeted, and therefore more effective in those three areas that you mentioned, growth and optimization, resiliency and security.

We’ve already started seeing the first steps in late 2025 when for example, the Security Committee has been particularly active, and we now have more of our CEOs who have security clearances. We have begun a cycle in November of this year, the first will be a series of classified briefings for our board members. The Security Committee is starting to look a lot like the Electricity Sub-sector Coordinating Council (ESCC), in the United States where we bring CEOs together with the most senior people in government to address the most critical issues of the sector.

We also have examples in the two other committees where we're seeing CEO level engagement on these issues and our organisation is benefitting from that engagement by having a clear focus and an ability to speak more clearly as an advocate for the sector.

There's a lot of challenges and opportunities ahead in 2026. What are the challenges you think the sector should watch out for, and what are the opportunities that excite you?

I think the biggest challenge from a federal policy perspective has everything to do with how the government could or should be helping us to build for the future demand. And whether they're going to make it easier reduce the challenges with respect to siting or not. I think Bill C-5 (The One Canadian Economy Act) sends all the right messages that this is a government that is determined that we're going to get big things done. There are still a couple of issues however, number one, Bill C-5 only addresses a small number of national projects deemed of national importance. Our ability to meet the challenges of the future are not going to be dependent on a small number of major projects, but a large number of medium sized and smaller projects like the refurbishment of existing facilities.

Secondly, is the challenge of addressing the fundamental challenges we have with respect to getting things sited and the duplication of regulatory processes within different government departments. We still have pieces of legislation like the Clean Electricity Regulations, the Fisheries Act, the Impact Assessment Act and the Navigable Waters Act that our members are continuing to trip over to get things done.

The opportunities are that we know that demand is going to increase and it's going to continue to increase despite a step back in the United States from commitments to environmental protection and decarbonization. We know that customers are continuing to electrify whether it is transportation, whether it is home heating, whether it is greater automation. And so, the opportunities of a growing electricity sector are real. I'm very positive when looking towards the future, that combination of what's going to be a growing electricity sector and a federal government that is publicly saying it wants to help get projects moving forward more quickly shows that we're going to continue to see a real acceleration of projects in this sector.

Give us a sneak peek of the Flux Capacitor in 2026.

We are ending 2025 with 130 podcast episodes and 2026 will actually be our organisations 135^th year! I think what the listener will be hearing different next year is a bit of a step back to more in-person conversations and I think fewer conversations on Zoom.

I did a couple of podcasts in 2025 that were in person, and they felt like better conversations. As I discussed with Allan Danroth on episode 130, we spent the last five and a half years sitting in front of our computer screens and it makes all the difference in the world from a communication and building relationship standpoint to actually have conversations with people in real time, in person.

Electricity Canada events: a year in review

2025 has been a busy year for Electricity Canada! From packed conferences to unforgettable networking moments, we’re looking back at the events that brought our industry together. Current Affairs sat down with Faran Mirza, Director of Business Development and Events to chat through our highlights, lessons learned and what to expect in 2026.

Hi Faran, thanks for joining us! In your 2025 highlight reel, which Electricity Canada events would be in there and why?

Where to start? We had so many firsts this year and we were really excited with the events that we did in 2025. I'll probably start with our Time to Build event. It took place this past October at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, where we brought in folks from the government relations world, along with our members and Corporate Partners. We discussed what is needed start building electricity infrastructure and how the government and our members can take advantage of this opportunity to propel economic growth.

I'd also like to mention our AMP Talks event that took place in Toronto in the historic El Mocambo. It is a venue where the Rolling Stones and Blondie and famous acts like that performed back in the day, starting in the late fifties, going up into the seventies. It’s more of a museum now, and you can still see great rock and roll artifacts. We are used to taking our folks to a boardroom or a closed office environment, so this was really cool to get out of that pattern. The format of the event itself was also really unique. We held a ‘TED Talk’ style event and gave eight corporate partners the opportunity to showcase their innovations and solutions to grid modernization in front our members in short 12-minute pitches or presentations. The members and Corporate Partners both really appreciated that bite size format.

If I was to pick a third, I would mention our drone symposium in Montreal with Hydro Quebec which I think was a first of its kind as well! This one-day symposium focused solely on drones and drone technologies and how they're being utilised to solve challenges both in the health and safety space, but in electricity technology.

What can members and corporate partners expect from Electricity Canada next year?

We’re looking at more new things, but also more of the same. We are now looking to being more creative into how we host meetings and events. We are starting to look at new venues and new spaces to host our meetings and really keep the excitement up around events. I’d like to try to keep people out of a traditional boardroom environment, as I mentioned. No matter where we are, the thing that will remain the same is keeping the connections between our members and our Corporate Partners alive, so that means giving them exclusive opportunities to meet and mingle and discuss their common issues and problems and how they're being solved.

Adding any kind of demonstrations is certainly key, and we saw that our drone symposium and Powering Partnerships as well, where we had about 10 Corporate Partner booths and eight Centre of Excellence project displays. People really enjoy walking around, seeing things physically and interacting with those subject matter experts. That is something that we'd like to do more of.

What is the most important thing you've learned this year about managing events?

I think the most important thing is member experience and Corporate Partner experience. We are making sure that is kept front of mind so that people are enjoying the event and it's conducive to a healthy networking environment. And speaking of networking, I have learned to think more out of the box and be creative in how we host networking events and get people to connect with each other. Everyone should be enjoying it and getting value out of it, but it should also be a fresh and engaging experience.

Oh, also never underestimate the power of a branded umbrella!

Fill in the blank: In 2026 I am most looking forward to _______.

Creating more memorable experiences for our entire audience, whether they're partners, members, government officials or stakeholders and creating those unique experiences where people can say, ‘Hey, that Electricity Canada event in 2026 was fantastic. We'd love to come to that again in 2027’. I’m also looking forward to hearing from our members and corporate partners and giving them more opportunities to connect with new people as well as reconnect with old colleagues.

Energizing the Economy

What will it take to energize the economy? Electricity Canada’s upcoming Powering Partnerships Summit in Vancouver, BC brings together experts from across Canada and the electricity sector to discuss just that. Current Affairs sat down with Julia Muggeridge, Vice President of Communications and Sustainability and Graeme Burk, Director of Communications at Electricity Canada to find out what guests can expect at our biggest industry event of the year.

The theme for this year's Powering Partnerships event is energising the economy. What inspired this theme and how is it relevant to what's happening in the electricity sector right now?

Graeme: The idea came from our hosts BC Hydro! I think it really works well because in the next 25 years, we're going to need to electrify the economy like we've never done before. There are all kinds of demands on the electricity system and so much infrastructure that needs to be built. There are also many obstacles in doing so. The question really is, what do we need to do to kickstart it all to energize the economy, as it were, to make it all happen?

Julia: Our CEO, Francis Bradley, always says that ‘electricity is the first billion’. Meaning, there really is no economy without electricity and that’s what should be addressed first. I think that really sums it up.

Who can we expect to see at the symposium?

Julia: The entire electricity sector will be there! Energy stakeholders, BC government and BC Hydro staff. There will be lots of Electricity Canada members representing generation technology, our Chief Financial Officers, our Sustainable Electricity members and of course corporate partners.

Graeme: We have some interesting panels and discussions. In our programming, we have a gathered some of the most senior people in health and safety talking about how to keep the electricity systems safe with a corporate partner from Engine Room. We have a panel on projects of national interest where have two Indigenous speakers, and we have someone from GT and Company joining them. Our panels are pulled together from some the best of our corporate partners, the best of our members across the country.

The one I am most looking forward to, is on the electric worldview where we have our pollster, Greg Lyle, talking to three people who are experts on electrification around the globe and can talk to efforts where they've gone through the energy transition.

Julia: Really?

Graeme: Really (laughter).

In the mix of presentations and panels, there are also some unscripted conversations that just say two CEOs, no notes, no comms, just conversation. What are you hoping the audience can learn from these energy leaders?

Julia: There is nothing more interesting than hearing the heads of two really big organizations talking about what keeps them up at night, and so we wanted to have some conversations set aside where we're hoping to experience what it’s like sitting in in their living room or at their restaurant table.

We have given them some general themes to speak to, from passing the torch for two very senior BC Hydro CEOs, resilience and the East/West grid. We're just really hoping to sit in on what a conversation between two CEOs at our board meeting would normally be. We want the audience to experience that.

Graeme already answered this, but Julia, what session are you most looking forward to?

Julia: I am most looking forward to an unscripted conversation between the CEO of SaskPower and the CEO of Manitoba Hydro because they're going to be talking about the East/West grid and what that means. These are two leaders of two Crown Corporations that are right next to each other, so they're going to be able to dig in as to why these interconnections aren't happening fast enough and what's standing in the way of a better East/West relationship.

This is a fill in the blank. We can energize our economy by _________.

Julia: Growing the grid and investing in our sector.

Graeme: Interties and making our grid East/West instead of a North/South one.

Julia: That’s your choice? (they both laugh)

Check out the agenda for Electricity Canada’s Powering Partnerships Summit on our website.

Time to Build

On October 29^th, Electricity Canada’s inaugural Ottawa based policy forum, “Time to Build” will bring together government, industry experts, leaders in the electricity sector and major stakeholders to determine what is needed to get building the next phase of Canada’s electricity grid. Current Affairs sat down with Brittany Botting, Electricity Canada’s Director of Generation to find out more.

Hi Brittany, thanks for joining us. Why hold a symposium to talk about our advocacy goals?

What we want to do is just bring together a diversity of voices to talk about what it takes to build electricity infrastructure for today. We're trying to bring together industry, government, and external stakeholders to come in and talk about the big picture issues, really focusing on this unique moment in time where the country wants to get big projects built. We want everyone to feel energized and to recognize the opportunity that’s in front of us, which is building out Canada's electricity grids to have greater energy sovereignty, to meet growing demand, to reduce economy-wide emissions and to accelerate economic development.

What are the issues that Time to Build will cover?

We're really trying to look at the opportunity that is in front of the sector right now, with a new government that wants to build and this momentum to think about economic growth in a bold way. How can we really seize this opportunity where Canadians are all talking about nation building projects? And what is a bigger or better nation building project than building out our electricity grid?

Other kinds of topics we’re going to cover are wildfire technologies, how to successfully partner with Indigenous communities on electricity projects, what it takes to meet the load growth we are seeing across the country, all sorts of stuff!

What were your goals when it came to selecting topics and speakers?

To start we have our keynote address, which is going to be Jennifer Williams, the President and CEO of Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro, and she is really a pioneer in fostering collaboration interjurisdictionally. She going to speak about the Churchill Falls deal with Hydro Quebec and how that project particularly supports the broader Atlantic region becoming increasingly integrated.

We have folks from Bruce Power and OPG who are going to be able to talk to the opportunities in nuclear expansion that's happening. There are also presenters from Yukon Energy who are going to add that perspective of what it’s like having a northern isolated grid.

It’s about bringing a of diversity of industry perspectives and really focusing on
what can we communicate out to the broader stakeholder network and government. There’s lots of exciting and innovative things happening in the electricity industry, and we want to be able to share these opportunities from across the country.

If there are two things you want people attending the symposium to come away with regarding the electricity sector, what are they?

I know I keep saying this, but number one is that there is a huge opportunity here that the electricity industry really going to be propelling economic growth for the next several decades.

Secondly, I want people to feel empowered that there are solutions to some of these sticky issues that keep cropping up. We have the right competent, smart, innovative people across the industry to collaboratively address and manage the some of these existing barriers. It’s a really exciting time to think what the next phase of the grid is going to look like.

Learn more about "Time to Build" on our website.

Powering Canadian Steel

Electricity Canada and the Canadian Steel Producer’s Association upcoming report, Powering Canadian Steel identifies how our two industries can work together to support economic growth, security and resilience. Current Affairs sat down with one of the report's authors, Jay Wilson, Director of Energy Security at Electricity Canada to learn more.

Hi Jay, thank you for joining us. How did this report come together?

We were approached last year by the Canadian Steel Producers Association (CSPA) to start thinking about electrification and growth in the industry. Their members produce steel and steel products in different ways across Canada, but they all expect their industry to grow significantly over the next 10 to 15 years. Steel is an energy-intensive sector, so one of the things that was clear to them was that their industry was going to be needing a lot more electricity – 430% more by 2050 – to power that growth.

The electricity sector has a similar outlook, expecting to massively increase the amount of building and investment in new infrastructure and modernizing the grid to meet demand. It’s not just the steel sector that is going to be using more electricity in the future. So, we decided to work together on this project to understand what is needed from the electricity sector to help build the infrastructure that the steel industry needs.

This was a fascinating project to work on, in part because these two industries are a lot more intertwined than people really think. So many of the physical components that generate and deliver electricity are made in steel plants that use electricity to melt and shape that steel into useful products. And because Canada has one of the cleanest electricity systems in the world, that means steel made with electricity here is cleaner than most other steel on the market. That lower environmental footprint matters to customers who buy steel.

What are the challenges and opportunities that are facing the steel industry when it comes to electrification?

To build some of the large-scale infrastructure in the electricity sector, it takes time, and it takes a lot of investment. Large projects like a major transmission line or a hydroelectric project might be in a permitting process for 10 years, which isn’t very attractive for investors.

Needing to wait up to a decade for permission to start a piece of infrastructure means important upgrades can be delayed. This means that the overall electricity system costs can be more expensive and the construction happens slower than it should.

For a steel plant that wants to produce more clean steel, they need to work with their local utility to upgrade their service to power the new equipment. But if it takes 5-10 years to permit to upgrade the transmission line to the plant, that’s not good for the people that need the power, or for anyone who needs their electricity to be reliable and affordable.

An opportunity here is that whatever happens, or in this case, doesn’t happen, in permitting electricity projects, affects all other industries. Any industry that is looking to expand and grow is going to use more power to serve their customers better. It's kind of universal. It’s a common cause, because everybody wants the same thing. Companies want more power, they want it to be as clean, reliable and affordable as possible, and that’s what the electricity sector wants to provide. We’re on the same page.

How will the current political situation with the U.S. affect electrifying the steel industry?

Hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of goods cross the border every year, including steel and electricity. A good trade relationship is important to everyone on both sides of the border, and the tariffs we’ve seen this year have been very disruptive and added a lot of uncertainty. There’s obviously a big challenge and making progress towards a resolution on the trade is going to be critical. There’s a place for governments to step in to mitigate some of the difficulties, and we’re encouraged by some of the early shows of support for the industries.

At the end of the day, whether or not there are trade challenges, steel is a necessity and electricity is a necessity and Canadian companies that are making steel need to have access to power and to be able to expand or to produce the kind of steel that customers need.

What was one thing you learned about the steel industry from working on this report?

Last fall, I got to visit the Algoma Steel plant in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. It was an eye-opening experience getting to see first-hand the different ways that steel can be made and turned into products.

We took a tour of the facility they were building where the new electric arc furnaces were to be housed. Seeing up close the scale and size of the facility, the equipment, and the infrastructure that brings the raw materials and the energy to where it’s needed was fascinating. There’s so much skill and expertise on display everywhere at a site like that, and watching these machines maneuver and transform a massive slab of red-hot metal into sheets and rods in a matter seconds is something I’ll never forget.

Tune in to episode 118 of the Flux Capacitor podcast for an exclusive interview with the Canadian Steel Producers Association’s President and CEO, Catherine Cobden.

Distribution Reliability

Electricity Canada’s Distribution Reliability Committee recently released their annual report breaking down the data of power interruptions in 2024. The report identifies the duration time of the average interruption, to the frequency of them happening and much more! Current Affairs sat down with Dan Gent, Director of Transmission and Reliability to learn how this affects customers.

Hi Dan, thanks for joining us! What does the reliability data in this report get used for?

When I think about it, it’s like it's a benchmarking report. Any utility can take a look at the report and identify how they're comparing in against all the participants in the Distribution Reliability Committee at Electricity Canada. Through this report you can identify the biggest contributors of an outage per company.

If you can identify what is causing the most outages (trees, weather, animals etc.), you can identify where you want to put your resources. The report provides proof of increasing trends, and it gives utilities justification to increase their investments in capital planning for their rate filing.

Describe the national indicators and what they mean?

There are many national indicators, but I will touch on the most popular ones, SAIDI and SAIFI. These are global industry standards so if you go to France, Brazil, Germany – they all measure system performance in this way. They’re also used by governments and regulators to determine how well the electricity system is preforming.

SAIDI stands for System Average Interruption Duration Index, which is the amount of time in minutes the average customer has been without power.

SAIFI stands for the System Average Interruption Frequency, so it measures the amount of times customers have been without power.

To get the whole picture we can calculate the Customer Average Interruption Duration Index which is CAIDI. This looks at on a national level, how many hours the average customer has been out individually.

What are some fun facts that have come out from this year’s report?

For the past several years, trees have been in the number one contributor for power interruptions. They are the biggest contributor in terms of outage duration at 33% in 2024.
If a tree falls on a line, it is an issue around safety because you have to shut off the power line and make sure the area is safe so the utility can remove it. You’re also taking into consideration debris from the tree, things the tree has hit on the way down and assess any trees that might have fallen or be on the verge of falling. And it’s not just big storms that cause this, branches can also fall on blue sky days. It’s a bit longer of a process to put that line back up and reconnect the power.

Also in 2024, 15% of outages were related to equipment failure. What's happening on a regular basis now is that high winds or ice storms are coming through more frequently, and that causes wear and tear on the infrastructure and equipment. I mean, how often can a distribution line or a pole withstand 120-kilometre winds until it breaks? How often can the power lines hold 2 tonnes of ice before it snaps? You could maybe survive the first time, but after three times, maybe not so much.

The data shows that we need to think about the age of some of the equipment and the wear and tear it is getting on a yearly basis.

If the reliability of the grid calculated as 99.9286%, how can some people be out of power for weeks and some minutes?

Well, the reliability index is a calculation based on the entire population. So you total up the amount of hours of outages and the amount of hours that people are connected to the grid.

You’re connected to the grid 8760 hours a year, but you might experience an outage for a month. Then you’re calculating the 720 hours in the month divided by 8760 which is actually less than 10%. When you flip it around, your availability or connected reliability to the grid is actually about 92%.

It’s the ENTIRE population and EVERY outage whether it’s a minute or a week out of 8760 hours. It’s a big impact to the individual customer obviously, but from the availability of the system perspective, it’s so small.

Ringing in the new year with Electricity Canada!

Other Stories

Electricity Canada events: a year in review

Other Stories

Energizing the Economy

Other Stories

Time to Build

Other Stories

Powering Canadian Steel

Other Stories

Distribution Reliability

Other Stories

Ringing in the new year with Electricity Canada!

Other Stories

Electricity Canada events: a year in review

Other Stories

Energizing the Economy

Other Stories

Time to Build

Other Stories

Powering Canadian Steel

Other Stories

Distribution Reliability

Other Stories

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