Canadian Electricity Markets during the COVID-19 Pandemic:An Initial Assessment

Abstract

This article examines the effect of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on electricity markets across select Canadian provinces, using available data. Using high-frequency electricity data, we find electricity demand declined by roughly 10 percent in Ontario and by about 5 percent in Alberta, British Columbia, and New Brunswick. On the supply side, in Alberta we find reductions from some natural gas plants and an increase in net generation from the oil sands region, whereas Ontario sees an increase in net electricity exports. Policy implications include potential rate impacts as a result of fixed charges spread over a smaller rate base, the potential use of electricity data as a real-time economic indicator during the pandemic, and a call to arms to make electricity data across all Canadian provinces more readily available.