Ontario slapping 25% surcharge on U.S.-bound electricity Monday, Ford says | RCI
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Ontario provides electricity to New York, Michigan and Minnesota

Summary

Ontario will impose a 25% surcharge on electricity exports to New York, Michigan, and Minnesota starting Monday in retaliation for Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods.

Premier Doug Ford warned U.S. governors and vowed to maintain the surcharge until all tariffs are lifted.

Canada has already imposed $30 billion in retaliatory tariffs, with more planned.

Ford also threatened to cut power to the states by April and banned U.S. firms from bidding on Ontario contracts. A $100M SpaceX deal for rural internet was also scrapped in response.

    • madcaesar@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      2 days ago

      Why is electricity so expensive in Quebec? Because fuck the people that’s why 😑

      I don’t pretend to know all the ins and outs of commerce but I do know Canadians are also getting fucked by Canada. Electricity, lumber, construction materials are artificially expensive as fuck. Since covid the price skyrocketed because of price fixing and no-one did shit and they stated high.

      Same with food prices, telecom… I love Justin standing up to Trump, but it’s also true that he’s failed protecting the average Canadian. Corporations have run amok and no-one has stood in their way.

    • fake_meows@lemm.eeEnglish
      1·
      2 days ago

      It is expensive (the most expensive in North America *) because it is low in fossil fuel generation AND uses a lot of renewables with variable production.

      The only way to keep the system stable is to rely on fossil fuel generation outside the jurisdiction to offset the peaks and troughs that happen on short time scales.

      Ontario actually pays the bordering states to take away excess energy, and they can do it because their gas fired generation can act in seconds to balance supply and demand.

      The power EXPORT from the windmills costs the ratepayers in the province over $1B a year…

      Similarly, many of the hydro projects rely on seasonal foreign demand. For example BC produces a lot of extra hydro in summer season, and there is air conditioning demand in California during those months. Its not as if the province can hold that water and use it for heating homes during winter.

      (* because of unreliable supplies, large consumers like industry can’t actually operate in the province because they cannot get reliable contracts… This is about 1/2 million jobs. This is a big part of how Ontario became a have-not province, actually. I had multiple clients from Ontario’s generating sector who told me that they “did not want” to enter power contracts with penalties around outages, so if a car plant loses power they can lose millions per hour, and the power companies didn’t want to commit to anything. All things equal, big factories can move to Buffalo NY and pay half the price for Ontario energy… )

      Basically, it’s expensive because of the costs of remote jurisdiction dependencies and the lack of true self sufficiency.