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!

Rank	Utility Name	Customers	Ownership	Prov./Terr.
1	Hydro-Québec Distribution	4,316,914	Prov./Terr.	QC
2	BC Hydro	2,049,322	Prov./Terr.	BC
3	Hydro One Networks Inc.	1,395,575	Prov./Terr.	ON
4	Alectra Utilities Corporation	1,054,613	Municipal	ON
5	Toronto Hydro-Electric System Limited	777,904	Municipal	ON
6	ENMAX Power Corp.	674,800	Municipal	AB
7	Manitoba Hydro	586,795	Prov./Terr.	MB
8	FortisAlberta Inc.	563,000	Inv. Owned	AB
9	SaskPower	537,714	Prov./Terr.	SK
10	Nova Scotia Power Incorporated	520,000	Inv. Owned	NS
11	NB Power	405,466	Prov./Terr.	NB
12	EPCOR Distribution Inc.	369,000	Municipal	AB
13	Hydro Ottawa Limited	339,771	Municipal	ON
14	Newfoundland Power	269,000	Inv. Owned	NF
15	ATCO Electric Ltd.	227,000	Inv. Owned	AB
16	FortisBC	175,900	Inv. Owned	BC
17	Elexicon Energy Inc.	167,653	Municipal	ON
18	London Hydro Inc.	160,598	Municipal	ON
19	Saskatoon Light & Power	117,200	Municipal	SK
20	Kitchener-Wilmot Hydro Inc.	97,695	Municipal	ON
21	ENWIN Utilities Ltd.	89,561	Municipal	ON
22	Hydro-Sherbrooke	82,697	Municipal	QC
23	Maritime Power	80600	Inv. Owned	PE
24	Oakville Hydro Electricity Distribution Inc.	73,133	Municipal	ON
25	Burlington Hydro Inc.	68,205	Municipal	ON
26	Energy+ Inc.	66,521	Municipal	ON
27	Entegrus Powerlines Inc.	59,810	Municipal	ON
28	Oshawa PUC Networks Inc.	59,183	Municipal	ON
29	Waterloo North Hydro Inc.	57,855	Municipal	ON
30	Synergy North Corporation	56,700	Municipal	ON
31	Niagara Peninsula Energy Inc.	56,067	Municipal	ON
32	Greater Sudbury Hydro Inc.	47,725	Municipal	ON
33	Newmarket-Tay Power Distribution Ltd.	43,931	Municipal	ON
34	Milton Hydro Distribution Inc.	40,388	Municipal	ON
35	Brantford Power Inc.	40,124	Municipal	ON
36	Newfoundland & Labrador Hydro	38,000	Prov./Terr.	NF
37	Bluewater Power Distribution Corporation	36,743	Municipal	ON
38	Saint John Energy	36,500	Municipal	NB
39	PUC Distribution Inc.	33,647	Municipal	ON
40	City of New Westminster	31,000	Municipal	BC
41	Essex Powerlines Corporation	30,393	Municipal	ON
42	City of Medicine Hat Electric	30,200	Municipal	AB
43	Canadian Niagara Power Inc.	29,455	Inv. Owned	ON
44	Kingston Hydro Corporation	27,778	Municipal	ON
45	North Bay Hydro Distribution Limited	24,199	Municipal	ON
46	Westario Power Inc.	23,774	Municipal	ON
47	Welland Hydro-Electric System Corp.	23,664	Municipal	ON
48	ERTH Power Corporation	23,380	Municipal	ON
49	Halton Hills Hydro Inc.	22,528	Municipal	ON
50	Festival Hydro Inc.	21,382	Municipal	ON
51	Hydro-Jonquière	20,289	Municipal	QC
52	Innpower Corporation	18,632	Municipal	ON
53	EPCOR Electricity Distribution Ontario Inc.	17,916	Inv. Owned	ON
54	Swift Current Electricity Services	16,600	Municipal	SK
55	Wasaga Distribution Inc.	14,003	Municipal	ON
56	Lakeland Power Distribution Ltd.	13,762	Municipal	ON
57	Orangeville Hydro Limited	12,652	Municipal	ON
58	E.L.K. Energy Inc.	12,478	Inv. Owned	ON
59	Algoma Power Inc.	11,732	Inv. Owned	ON
60	Grimsby Power Incorporated	11,631	Municipal	ON
61	Ottawa River Power Corporation	11,320	Municipal	ON
62	Lakefront Utilities Inc.	10,546	Municipal	ON
63	Hydro Westmount	10,181	Municipal	QC
64	Hydro-Magog	9,957	Municipal	QC
65	Niagara-on-the-Lake Hydro Inc.	9,558	Municipal	ON
66	Hydro-Joliette	8,975	Municipal	QC
67	Centre Wellington Hydro Ltd.	7,156	Municipal	ON
68	Tillsonburg Hydro Inc.	7,129	Municipal	ON
69	Coopérative SJBR	6,400	Cooperative	QC
70	Northern Ontario Wires Inc.	5,977	Municipal	ON
71	Rideau St. Lawrence Distribution Inc.	5,910	Municipal	ON
72	Edmundston Energy	5,800	Municipal	NB
73	Hydro Hawkesbury Inc.	5,549	Municipal	ON
74	Ville d’Alma	5,482	Municipal	QC
75	Ville de Baie-Comeau	4,928	Municipal	QC
76	Nelson Hydro	4,434	Municipal	BC
77	Renfrew Hydro Inc.	4,325	Municipal	ON
78	Hydro-Coaticook	3,968	Municipal	QC
79	Wellington North Power Inc.	3,830	Municipal	ON
80	Fort Frances Power Corporation	3,773	Municipal	ON
81	Antigonish Electric Utility	3,500	Municipal	NS
82	Espanola Regional Hydro Distribution Corporation	3,309	Inv. Owned	ON
83	Ville d’Amos	2,882	Municipal	QC
84	Sioux Lookout Hydro Inc.	2,848	Municipal	ON
85	Hearst Power Distribution Company Limited	2,700	Municipal	ON
86	Cooperative Hydro Embrun Inc.	2,366	Cooperative	ON
87	Atikokan Hydro Inc.	1,629	Municipal	ON
88	Corix Multi Utility Services Inc.	1,365	Inv. Owned	BC
89	Hydro 2000 Inc.	1,244	Municipal	ON
90	Chapleau Public Utilities Corporation	1,222	Municipal	ON
91	Perth Andover Light Commission	1,000	Municipal	NB
92	Hemlock Utility Services Ltd.	252	Inv. Owned	BC
93	The Yukon Electrical Company Limited	80	Inv. Owned	BC
94	Kyuquot Power Ltd.	42	Inv. Owned	BC
95	Silversmith Light & Power Corporation	9	Inv. Owned	BC
96	Armena REA Ltd.		Cooperative	AB
97	Battle River Power Coop		Cooperative	AB
98	Beaver REA Ltd.		Cooperative	AB
99	Blue Mountain Power		Cooperative	AB
100	Borradaile REA Ltd.		Cooperative	AB
101	Braes REA Ltd.		Cooperative	AB
102	City of Lethbridge		Municipal	AB
103	City of Red Deer Electric Light & Power		Municipal	AB
104	Claysmore REA Ltd.		Cooperative	AB
105	Co-op (Rocky REA Ltd)		Cooperative	AB
106	Devonia REA Ltd.		Cooperative	AB
107	Drayton Valley REA Ltd.		Cooperative	AB
108	Duffield REA Ltd		Cooperative	AB
109	EQUS REA Ltd.		Cooperative	AB
110	Ermineskin REA Ltd.		Cooperative	AB
111	Fenn REA Ltd.		Cooperative	AB
112	Heart River REA Ltd.		Cooperative	AB
113	Kneehill REA Ltd.		Cooperative	AB
114	Lakeland REA Ltd.		Cooperative	AB
115	Lindale REA Ltd.		Cooperative	AB
116	MacKenzie REA Ltd.		Cooperative	AB
117	Mayerthorpe & District REA Ltd.		Cooperative	AB
118	Montana REA Ltd.		Cooperative	AB
119	Municipality of Crowsnest Pass		Municipal	AB
120	Myrnam REA Ltd.		Cooperative	AB
121	Niton REA Ltd.		Cooperative	AB
122	North Parkland Power REA Ltd.		Cooperative	AB
123	Peigan Indian REA Ltd.		Cooperative	AB
124	Sterling REA Ltd.		Cooperative	AB
125	Stony Plain REA Ltd.		Cooperative	AB
126	Tomahawk REA Ltd		Cooperative	AB
127	Town of Cardston		Municipal	AB
128	Town of Fort Macleod		Municipal	AB
129	Town of Ponoka		Municipal	AB
130	West Liberty REA Ltd		Cooperative	AB
131	West Wetaskiwin REA Ltd.		Cooperative	AB
132	Wild Rose REA Ltd.		Cooperative	AB
133	Willingdon REA Ltd.		Cooperative	AB
134	Zawale REA Ltd.		Cooperative	AB
135	City of Grand Forks		Municipal	BC
136	City of Penticton		Municipal	BC
137	District of Summerland		Municipal	BC
138	Berwick Electric Light Commission		Municipal	NS
139	Canso Electric Light Commission		Municipal	NS
140	Lunenburg Electric Utility		Municipal	NS
141	Mahone Bay Electric Utility		Municipal	NS
142	Riverport Electric Light Commission		Municipal	NS
143	Northland Utilities		Inv. Owned	NT
144	Qulliq Energy		Prov./Terr.	NU
145	Yukon Electrical Company		Inv. Owned	YK
146	Yukon Energy Corporation		Prov./Terr.	YK