Faces of the Industry kicks off National Electricity Month

Electricity Canada is proud to announce the winners of the second annual Faces of the Industry award! This award highlights the work of six individuals from across the country who have shown outstanding achievement within the electricity sector in leadership and innovation. As part of June’s National Electricity Month campaign, Electricity Canada will be sharing their inspiring stories across all social media platforms. Current Affairs sits down with Graeme Burk, Director of Communications at Electricity Canada to learn more about what makes this year so special.

Hi Graeme, thank you for joining us. What is the Faces of the Industry award and why important for our sector?
The Faces of the Industry Award is a new award that we started last year to fill a need that we were finding in our association, which was that we tended to give awards to companies. The electricity sector is certainly made up of companies, but it's also made up of individuals. These individuals represent everything from people who do customer service accounts, to people who do line work, to executives.
We wanted an award that represented that breadth of everything in the electricity sector and the people that made the electricity sector. So that's why we came up with the Faces the Industry Award.

Who are this year’s Faces of the Industry?
We have a really amazing group of winners this year. We have winners that represent just about every single area of the electricity sector!

We have two engineers doing very, very similar but different work.

Mohamed from IESO is doing stuff in electromagnetic transients and is at the cutting edge of EMT mapping, which is a process that is going to help intermittent technology like renewables get on the grid with greater reliability.

We have Joy Brake from Nova Scotia Power who is working on the strategy to get Nova Scotia off coal by 2030. She’s all the tricks of the trade and the things she's picked up in her career in system planning to try and get that done.

From Saskatchewan, we have Dan Irvine who focuses on procurement. He is at the leading edge of ensuring supply chains are local and are impactful to local and Indigenous communities.

We have our live line engineer, Jeff, who did something I've just never thought of before. He saw the gaps that were there in safety and invented stuff to make things safer. He saw that lie lineworkers were using mountaineering ropes which are not great in an energized environment, and so he developed ropes that would work better with electricity, which is kind of incredible!

Sandra Haskins the CFO of Capital Power and she has been amazing at doing capital offering and raised $3 billion dollars for infrastructure projects.

And last but not least we have Jennifer Williams, who is the CEO at Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro. She managed to get a historic agreement signed that will basically change the face of hydroelectric development in both Labrador and Quebec.

It’s a really great group that represents all the levels of the sector, all the geographic sectors of Canada and shows the breadth of talent that we have in the electricity sector.

This is the second year Electricity Canada has done the Faces of the Industry award. How has this year differed from 2024?

There's been less panicking, I think is the simplest answer! I think it's always interesting to invent something and then figure out, well, how do we judge this and how do we bring these people together, and how do we put together the social media content for national Electricity Month and all those sorts of questions. This year we didn't have those questions quite so much and as a result, we were able to just kind of get on with doing it.

This year we had an award reception in the lobby of Electricity Canada's head office and in Ottawa, and it was beautiful and meaningful. I think all the winners felt really, really appreciated from it and that was really great.

I think we've also gotten very good at understanding that this all builds towards a social media campaign for National Electricity Month. We just want to make National Electricity Month the best month for the electricity sector possible. We were able to go at it this year with that as our starting point, and it's going to be a great time as a result.

What should we be expecting during this year’s National Electricity Month?

You should be expecting a lot of really great content! We have Instagram posts, we have LinkedIn posts, we have YouTube postings, we have some media postings happening as well.
We have content of a lot of really great people, who all have really interesting insights on things, so please stop by our social channels and see what’s there. I think you're going to be surprised and delighted throughout the month.

Find out more about our Faces of the Industry winners on our website.

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Mitigating Investment Risk in Electricity Regulation

Electricity Canada’s Annual Regulatory Forum brings together experts from across the electricity sector to discuss best practices and key issues in electricity regulation. This year’s theme, “Managing and Mitigating Investment Risk for our Energy Future” will tackle the challenges and opportunities in expanding our grid. Current Affairs sits down with Electricity Canada’s Joe McKinnon, Manager of Economic Regulations and Standards to learn more.

Hi Joe, thanks for joining us. Tell us about the Annual Regulatory Forum and what the attendees can expect for this year?

The forum comes at the tail end of a CAMPUT’s annual conference which highlights key regulatory concerns in the utility industry, and gives Electricity Canada an opportunity to showcase our own solutions around economic regulation in the energy sector.

Our goal is to illustrate a cohesive message with relevant strategies around economic regulation reforms and what we need to do to ensure the strength of our sector in the future. This year we have some great panels which will address three areas of focus within our broader theme: electrification and load growth, climate adaptation, and resiliency. We want to bring together insights from our utility members, but also our vendors and other industry participants.

At the forum we also launch our yearly regulatory report which focuses on the issue of risk and uncertainty around investing in our energy future.

Why is this year’s theme so important?

This year's theme is important because there is so much uncertainty regarding politics and policy at the international, federal, and provincial level for markets and supply chains.

At the moment, load growth projections are increasing in certain jurisdictions and changing at a rapid pace. To accommodate for future electrification and load growth we need a lot of capital investment. As the grid grows and changes, customer preferences change, and grid modernization is an essential part of that. To do that, we need both operational and capital expenditure and some of our current regulatory structures aren't set up to optimally incentivize this.

On the climate adaptation and resiliency front, we have storms, wildfires – our general climate risk is increasing. To ensure long term affordability for customers, resiliency, reliability, security and sustainability of the grid, you need to invest especially to secure that over the coming decades.

What are the three biggest challenges to investment?

So, challenge number one is the disconnect between policymakers, regulators and utilities on what is required to ensure long term resource adequacy, resiliency of the grid, reliability and security. At the same time, we need to maintain affordability for customers. We need to figure out the balance there.

Challenge number two is that regulators need to provide more guidance, flexibility and incentives regarding investment to meet industry and policy goals. Overall, there's a lot of uncertainty regarding general load growth projections. While we know the trend is there, exactly how that unfolds and where the investment needs to go are still important questions. In the meantime, policy impacts are changing. As governance changes, new policy comes in, old policy goes out – this also shapes that overarching uncertainty.

Lastly, there is market uncertainty. And we have been working on this report long before our current topical trade problems! There are general investment challenges in the industry broadly.

Although all these things are not generally controlled by the regulator, electricity regulation can work to minimize those impacts in the overarching risk landscape.

This year’s forum will also launch the new report “Regulation and risk: overcoming uncertainty”. What do you want people to take away from the report after reading it?

There doesn't need to be a massive upheaval of the regulatory framework a utility exists. Reforms can be done within what we have, without any legal intervention from policy makers or government. They are essential to reduce uncertainty, reduce risk and allow for investing to ensure reliability, security, sustainability through the coming decades.

There is a suite of tools and improvements that regulators can use. Some may be more or less applicable depending on who you are, but the goal is to reduce hesitation and uncertainty. While not every single tool might be adopted by every regulator, there is something for everyone in this report. The small changes can make a big impact in the future.

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Increasing Generation

Electricity Canada’s Generation Council met in Ottawa on March 18-19 to discuss best practices, challenges and opportunities in creating a reliable electricity grid for all Canadians. The first step? Building more of it! Current Affairs sits down with Brittany Botting, Director of Generation at Electricity Canada to learn more.

Hi Brittany, thanks for joining us! How can Canada prepare for future load growth? 

With a growing population, increasing housing supply, electrification of industry, AI, electric vehicles and so much more! Meeting this load growth will require building out more electrical infrastructure faster than we ever have before. Estimates peg the annual investments into our grids needed to keep up with demand at $55 billion and growing.  

To move at the pace and scale that is needed, investors need more certainty. Canadian governments need to systematically remove the barriers to building and ensure the rules are clear, predictable and practical. Governments should be looking for ways to invest in the grid through things like the Investment Tax Credits or low-cost, repayable loans. And there needs to be an understanding of the opportunity that comes with investing in our electricity grids today to build a cleaner, more resilient and more secure energy system that will be the backbone of our future economy.  

What are the biggest obstacles to increasing electricity generation in Canada? 

 When it comes to increasing electricity generation members must strike the appropriate balance between affordability, reliability and sustainability. There are many factors that go into making an investment decision and each decision point can be met with obstacles. To get the point where there are shovels in the ground there a few hoops to jump through:

• Capital – generation projects can have long lead times and are incredibly expensive. Companies must be able to secure the necessary capital to move forward with an investment. 

• Regulatory – new generation projects must go through a number of assessments and obtain a number of permits to move forward.

• Technological – while some generation technologies have been around for a while, some are still emerging. This comes with a whole host of technical and logistical questions that must be solved before implementation.

• Community support – new generation projects are significant infrastructure projects that require support from local communities and Indigenous groups to be successful.  

• Logistical – supply chain delays and labour shortages are widely seen across the sector and must be factored in as well.

How are Electricity Canada Members tackling these issues? 

At our last Generation Council meeting I was really struck by the degree of collaboration that is occurring between our members to solve some of these problems. For example, our member from the Yukon Energy Corporation shared how they are were able to piggyback on a purchasing order ATCO had made for some critical components in order to move up the supply chain queue. Or, on a much larger scale, the new MOU for Churchill Falls is spurring all sorts of collaborations between Hydro Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro that will expand capacity in both those provinces. 

Why is energy security so important, and what do we need to do get Canada closer to achieving it? 

Electricity underpins everything we do and Canadians so often take for granted that when you flip a switch, the lights will go on. Preserving this feeling for families and businesses under any circumstance is, in my opinion, what it means to have energy security.  

The integrated North American grid has enhanced our collective energy security for decades, but with the threats coming from U.S. could possibly disrupt the two-way flow of electricity trade between our two countries. Canadians have had to pause and re-evaluate the state of our energy systems.

With this system being challenged, there is a need to shore up our domestic energy capacity to ensure we are resilient today and into the future. As a start, we need to get building to meet the demand for electricity we already know is coming. This may also be the time to think big and creatively about some of the industry’s sticky problems. For example, are there things that can be done to support the domestic manufacturing of critical electricity components? Are there opportunities for more east-west connections?  

Fill in the blank - The electricity sector needs to _____________ in the next 10 years. 

Build more electrical infrastructure .

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Energizing Talent

The electricity sector is currently facing challenges in workforce development due to labour shortages, an aging workforce, and the rapid evolution of required skills. With energy consumption and demand on the rise, the industry is looking to attract its most valuable assets – people. Current Affairs chats with Electricity Canada’s Manager of Safety and Human Resources Program, Natasha Honey, about the recent roundtable Electricity Canada hosted on the human resource challenges in the sector, “Energizing Talent".

Hi Natasha, thank you for joining us! What did the first Energizing Talent Roundtable session look like?

The first roundtable took place February 26th, and it was the first in a focused, but in-depth conversation series about the workforce challenges facing the electricity sector. The theme for this first roundtable was on government and industry collaboration, so we explored how current policies are shaping the labour market, where gaps exist and what can be done to strengthen the partnership between industry and government to address workforce needs.

This discussion was all about charting a path forward, building a shared understanding of key challenges, and identifying potential directions for future action. These types of conversations will hopefully lay a foundation for ongoing dialogue and more strategic workforce planning in the future!

Who was in attendance?

We have gathered leaders from across the electricity sector, government and labour organizations to bring different perspectives to the table.

We have representation from Electricity Human Resources Canada, and the Canadian Labour Congress. From our membership we have representation from Hydro One, and OPG. On the government side, we have representation from Employment and Social Development Canada, and we have representatives from the University of Ottawa, Toronto Metropolitan University as well as union representation from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW).

Describe some of the challenges the energy sector faces in our workforce?

One of the most pressing challenges, is the labour shortage that we're facing. By 2028, labour market studies are projecting that the sector is expected to be short more than 20,000 workers and 17% of the current workforce is set to retire. This creates serious risk for workforce stability and succession planning.

At the same time, we have an innovative industry that is changing so rapidly. There are all sorts of new technologies like hydrogen production, advanced grid systems, integrated renewables etc…It’s creating a demand for skills that current workers don’t really have resulting in training gaps.

The more complex workforce issues involve government programs aimed at supporting workforce development through more administrative barriers that are misaligned with the industry needs.

Where do you see opportunities in the electricity sector workforce?

I think there's a really big opportunity to strengthen the collaboration between government and industry, which is what this first roundtable is really hoping to address. By working together, we can ensure that workforce policies and programs are more responsive to the sector's needs and hopefully close the labour gaps. We would like to improve access to workforce supports and training, and create clear pathways for people entering and advancing in the industry.

Another opportunity is leveraging new data and insights to predict labour needs and skills requirements. Through that, there is an opportunity to become more strategic with workforce planning.

There is also an opportunity to attract untapped pools of workers that are typically underrepresented in the electricity industry like newcomers to Canada, women, and Indigenous workers. We can really diversify the industry this way and that is very exciting.

What are you hoping key stakeholders take away from these conversations?

I want everyone to leave with a clearer understanding of how government and industry can work more effectively together to address workforce challenges. We're not trying to be prescriptive with this round table, the goal is to identify the supporting areas to focus on and lay the groundwork for future action. This should be the start of an ongoing conversation as the industry continues to evolve.

Any ideas for future roundtables?

How we can collaborate with educational institutions from all different levels to attract talent and retain talent is probably the next focus of our roundtable series! To give students a good understanding how the industry works and show that you can have a long and illustrious career in the industry is really important.

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Electricity Trade in North America

At the start of February, the U.S. set in motion a 25% tariff on most Canadian goods and a 10% tariff on energy sources from Canada. Canada responded by putting similar tariffs on products from the U.S. On February 3, these actions were “paused” by both countries for a month. But questions remain about what might happen to the electricity grid from both countries if tariffs ever come back on the table.

Canada and the United States have been trading electricity for over a century. The integrated grid gives both countries a sense of security and flexibility over their energy use and they can rely on each other to help keep the lights on in times of need. Current Affairs sits down with Manager of U.S. Affairs, Robin Yee to discuss the opportunities and potential upcoming challenges in energy policy with the new administration.

Hi Robin. Thank you for joining us. How has cross-border electricity trade traditionally worked for the past 100 years up until now?

Cross-border trade grew out of natural strengths and needs that complemented each other...Instead of one region needing to overbuild to meet its highest demand throughout the entire year, it could coordinate with its neighbours and draw on their surplus when the electricity wasn’t being used. An example of this is how – generally – Canadians tend to use more electricity during the winter (for heating) while in the U.S. their demand is higher in the summer (for cooling). Rather than building up for a peak that will just happen a few weeks in the whole year, we can be strategic and balance between both of us.

If the U.S places tariffs on Canadian goods including electricity, what exactly is at risk?

First of all, the whole electricity system has been built around tariff-free trade of electricity, so introducing tariffs will be hugely disruptive. Business decisions have been made based on the affordability and availability of electricity, and not just for our sector, but in the U.S. for industries that consume a lot of energy as well. If tariffs are introduced, that has a ripple effect.

But the most obvious one is economic. If the U.S. places tariffs on Canadian electricity, it means that their consumers and manufacturers will be paying more for electricity. The U.S. imports electricity from Canada because it makes sense for affordability. And electricity isn’t something you can source alternatives from overseas!

The same tariffs could also mean that bills go up here in Canada. It’s counterintuitive but a decline in exports could mean reduced revenues at home. The electricity sold is often surplus electricity, which is not needed in that moment. If there is extra flow or wind, it makes sense to sell to our neighbours and everyone benefits.

Also, even though Canada is a net exporter, we do still import from the U.S., and those imports are significant in the areas where they are used. B.C. is going through a drought cycle and has been importing more electricity over the last few years. If electricity costs go up in the U.S., that raises the price for U.S. exports to Canada, too.

We’re also watching for impacts on the overall supply chain. Again, the theme here is disruption, and for a regulated sector that has long lead times for planning, approval and procurement, tariffs introduce lots of uncertainty into the supply chain for costs and availability. It’s not just for new projects, but for maintenance and modernization too.

Beyond the tariffs, what other aspects of U.S/Canada are we watching?

We are also keeping an eye on the direction U.S. energy policy will take. The new government has very different priorities from the previous one and is much more focused on building up oil and gas production domestically. A lot of the policy from the last four years will be paused or rolled back. There’s a lot of regulatory uncertainty and I think that that’s something significant to watch for, will there be changes in the market structures or regulatory assumptions.

What have you and members of the Electricity Canada’s government relations team been doing?

We’ve been busy! I’d say we are talking with three main groups. The first is our members, especially those involved in power marketing, government relations or supply chain. We need to understand the questions they are asking and their priorities as the U.S. landscape changes.

We have also been engaged with key Canadian government officials to share industry information and understand the thinking around planning a response, and how we can inform and support this in a united way. That’s very important.

And we’ve been bringing the message directly to the U.S. as well, meeting with leaders from industry associations and stakeholders. As the new government settles in, we will meet with the energy policymakers too, as we’ve been doing for years. Electricity is one of those things that has worked so well, for so long in the cross-border relationship, that many people don’t even think about it. But I generally find that, once you take a look at how both countries benefit, people really do get it and understand the value.

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