Here Are the 145 Canadian Electric Utilities

February 2nd update: Thanks to some friends, the list has been updated, reducing the number of Canadian utilities from 151 to 145.

In the United States, the Energy Information Agency maintains a handy database of electric utilities. I couldn’t find anything similar for Canada. In my activities as a business consultant in the electricity sector, it’s something useful and I have had many Canadian utilities as customers. So, I made my own over the years and I’m sharing it here. 

You’ll be pleased to know that 145 electric utilities operate in Canada — I included the entire list at the end of this post. Some definitions here: I’m only counting distribution companies. Companies that are energy retailers, transmitters or generators without a distribution operation are omitted from this list. I found the number of customers for most of them, giving a sense of size, although I couldn’t always find this information — mostly Alberta coops and some utilities in the territories. 

58% of Canadian utilities are municipally owned, and 24% more are coops.

However, by customer count, 57% of Canadian customers are served by a provincial or territorial utility. As I couldn’t find the customer counts of many coops, this chart underestimates this category. 

Ontario has the most utilities, followed by Alberta, British Columbia and Québec. Manitoba and Prince Edward Island are the only two provinces with a single utility. 

Hydro-Québec is the largest Canadian utility, with over 4.3 M customers. BC Hydro and Hydro One follow. Alectra is the largest municipal utility. The Fortis companies, if taken together, would have over 1 M customers in BC, AB, ON, PE and NL, but they’re largely operating independently. The top 20 companies have 90% of the Canadian customers — the 20th one, Kitchener-Wilmot Hydro, has almost 100,000 customers.

Let me know if you want to know more!

RankUtility NameCustomersOwnershipProv./Terr.
1Hydro-Québec Distribution4,316,914Prov./Terr.QC
2BC Hydro2,049,322Prov./Terr.BC
3Hydro One Networks Inc.1,395,575Prov./Terr.ON
4Alectra Utilities Corporation1,054,613MunicipalON
5Toronto Hydro-Electric System Limited777,904MunicipalON
6ENMAX Power Corp.674,800MunicipalAB
7Manitoba Hydro586,795Prov./Terr.MB
8FortisAlberta Inc.563,000Inv. OwnedAB
9SaskPower537,714Prov./Terr.SK
10Nova Scotia Power Incorporated520,000Inv. OwnedNS
11NB Power405,466Prov./Terr.NB
12EPCOR Distribution Inc.369,000MunicipalAB
13Hydro Ottawa Limited339,771MunicipalON
14Newfoundland Power269,000Inv. OwnedNF
15ATCO Electric Ltd.227,000Inv. OwnedAB
16FortisBC175,900Inv. OwnedBC
17Elexicon Energy Inc.167,653MunicipalON
18London Hydro Inc.160,598MunicipalON
19Saskatoon Light & Power117,200MunicipalSK
20Kitchener-Wilmot Hydro Inc.97,695MunicipalON
21ENWIN Utilities Ltd.89,561MunicipalON
22Hydro-Sherbrooke82,697MunicipalQC
23Maritime Power80600Inv. OwnedPE
24Oakville Hydro Electricity Distribution Inc.73,133MunicipalON
25Burlington Hydro Inc.68,205MunicipalON
26Energy+ Inc.66,521MunicipalON
27Entegrus Powerlines Inc.59,810MunicipalON
28Oshawa PUC Networks Inc.59,183MunicipalON
29Waterloo North Hydro Inc.57,855MunicipalON
30Synergy North Corporation56,700MunicipalON
31Niagara Peninsula Energy Inc.56,067MunicipalON
32Greater Sudbury Hydro Inc.47,725MunicipalON
33Newmarket-Tay Power Distribution Ltd.43,931MunicipalON
34Milton Hydro Distribution Inc.40,388MunicipalON
35Brantford Power Inc.40,124MunicipalON
36Newfoundland & Labrador Hydro38,000Prov./Terr.NF
37Bluewater Power Distribution Corporation36,743MunicipalON
38Saint John Energy36,500MunicipalNB
39PUC Distribution Inc.33,647MunicipalON
40City of New Westminster31,000MunicipalBC
41Essex Powerlines Corporation30,393MunicipalON
42City of Medicine Hat Electric30,200MunicipalAB
43Canadian Niagara Power Inc.29,455Inv. OwnedON
44Kingston Hydro Corporation27,778MunicipalON
45North Bay Hydro Distribution Limited24,199MunicipalON
46Westario Power Inc.23,774MunicipalON
47Welland Hydro-Electric System Corp.23,664MunicipalON
48ERTH Power Corporation23,380MunicipalON
49Halton Hills Hydro Inc.22,528MunicipalON
50Festival Hydro Inc.21,382MunicipalON
51Hydro-Jonquière20,289MunicipalQC
52Innpower Corporation18,632MunicipalON
53EPCOR Electricity Distribution Ontario Inc.17,916Inv. OwnedON
54Swift Current Electricity Services16,600MunicipalSK
55Wasaga Distribution Inc.14,003MunicipalON
56Lakeland Power Distribution Ltd.13,762MunicipalON
57Orangeville Hydro Limited12,652MunicipalON
58E.L.K. Energy Inc.12,478Inv. OwnedON
59Algoma Power Inc.11,732Inv. OwnedON
60Grimsby Power Incorporated11,631MunicipalON
61Ottawa River Power Corporation11,320MunicipalON
62Lakefront Utilities Inc.10,546MunicipalON
63Hydro Westmount10,181MunicipalQC
64Hydro-Magog9,957MunicipalQC
65Niagara-on-the-Lake Hydro Inc.9,558MunicipalON
66Hydro-Joliette8,975MunicipalQC
67Centre Wellington Hydro Ltd.7,156MunicipalON
68Tillsonburg Hydro Inc.7,129MunicipalON
69Coopérative SJBR6,400CooperativeQC
70Northern Ontario Wires Inc.5,977MunicipalON
71Rideau St. Lawrence Distribution Inc.5,910MunicipalON
72Edmundston Energy5,800MunicipalNB
73Hydro Hawkesbury Inc.5,549MunicipalON
74Ville d’Alma5,482MunicipalQC
75Ville de Baie-Comeau4,928MunicipalQC
76Nelson Hydro4,434MunicipalBC
77Renfrew Hydro Inc.4,325MunicipalON
78Hydro-Coaticook3,968MunicipalQC
79Wellington North Power Inc.3,830MunicipalON
80Fort Frances Power Corporation3,773MunicipalON
81Antigonish Electric Utility3,500MunicipalNS
82Espanola Regional Hydro Distribution Corporation3,309Inv. OwnedON
83Ville d’Amos2,882MunicipalQC
84Sioux Lookout Hydro Inc.2,848MunicipalON
85Hearst Power Distribution Company Limited2,700MunicipalON
86Cooperative Hydro Embrun Inc.2,366CooperativeON
87Atikokan Hydro Inc.1,629MunicipalON
88Corix Multi Utility Services Inc. 1,365Inv. OwnedBC
89Hydro 2000 Inc.1,244MunicipalON
90Chapleau Public Utilities Corporation1,222MunicipalON
91Perth Andover Light Commission1,000MunicipalNB
92Hemlock Utility Services Ltd.252Inv. OwnedBC
93The Yukon Electrical Company Limited 80Inv. OwnedBC
94Kyuquot Power Ltd.42Inv. OwnedBC
95Silversmith Light & Power Corporation9Inv. OwnedBC
96Armena REA Ltd. CooperativeAB
97Battle River Power Coop CooperativeAB
98Beaver REA Ltd. CooperativeAB
99Blue Mountain Power CooperativeAB
100Borradaile REA Ltd. CooperativeAB
101Braes REA Ltd. CooperativeAB
102City of LethbridgeMunicipalAB
103City of Red Deer Electric Light & PowerMunicipalAB
104Claysmore REA Ltd. CooperativeAB
105Co-op (Rocky REA Ltd) CooperativeAB
106Devonia REA Ltd. CooperativeAB
107Drayton Valley REA Ltd. CooperativeAB
108Duffield REA Ltd CooperativeAB
109EQUS REA Ltd. CooperativeAB
110Ermineskin REA Ltd. CooperativeAB
111Fenn REA Ltd. CooperativeAB
112Heart River REA Ltd. CooperativeAB
113Kneehill REA Ltd. CooperativeAB
114Lakeland REA Ltd. CooperativeAB
115Lindale REA Ltd. CooperativeAB
116MacKenzie REA Ltd. CooperativeAB
117Mayerthorpe & District REA Ltd. CooperativeAB
118Montana REA Ltd. CooperativeAB
119Municipality of Crowsnest PassMunicipalAB
120Myrnam REA Ltd. CooperativeAB
121Niton REA Ltd. CooperativeAB
122North Parkland Power REA Ltd. CooperativeAB
123Peigan Indian REA Ltd. CooperativeAB
124Sterling REA Ltd. CooperativeAB
125Stony Plain REA Ltd. CooperativeAB
126Tomahawk REA Ltd CooperativeAB
127Town of Cardston MunicipalAB
128Town of Fort Macleod MunicipalAB
129Town of Ponoka MunicipalAB
130West Liberty REA Ltd CooperativeAB
131West Wetaskiwin REA Ltd. CooperativeAB
132Wild Rose REA Ltd. CooperativeAB
133Willingdon REA Ltd. CooperativeAB
134Zawale REA Ltd. CooperativeAB
135City of Grand ForksMunicipalBC
136City of PentictonMunicipalBC
137District of SummerlandMunicipalBC
138Berwick Electric Light CommissionMunicipalNS
139Canso Electric Light CommissionMunicipalNS
140Lunenburg Electric UtilityMunicipalNS
141Mahone Bay Electric UtilityMunicipalNS
142Riverport Electric Light CommissionMunicipalNS
143Northland UtilitiesInv. OwnedNT
144Qulliq EnergyProv./Terr.NU
145Yukon Electrical CompanyInv. OwnedYK
146Yukon Energy CorporationProv./Terr.YK