Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne says the province is currently in talks to purchase more hydro electricity from Quebec.
“Our officials are talking as we speak,” said Wynne during a conference call held late Wednesday to outline the province’s Fair Hydro Plan.
“We’re buying power from Quebec and we’re trading power with Quebec. So I want to do more of that.”
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Wynne did not provide any specifics about what a new agreement with Quebec might look like, but said the sale of electricity between the two provinces is a benefit to Ontarians and “makes sense.”
“We’ve actually signed a couple of agreements with Quebec and both Premier Philippe Couillard and I have said to our officials: ‘Continue to explore opportunities.’ So that’s happening.”
WATCH: Premier Kathleen Wynne announces Fair Hydro Plan
Wynne gave no indication of when a new deal might be confirmed. She did, however, say purchasing power from Quebec is an important part of ensuring Ontarians continue to have access to a diversified supply of electricity.
“I can’t tell you at this moment whether there’s another agreement in the offering, but we certainly are interested in doing everything that we can with Quebec.”
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Asked if it made more sense to increase energy trade between the two provinces rather than spend billions on nuclear projects with a history of massive cost overruns, Wynne said that’s one of the reasons why her government decided not to build new nuclear.
“We were on track to build $15 billion worth of new nuclear – we made a decision not to do that,” said Wynne, adding it would be irresponsible to rely entirely upon Quebec for electricity.
WATCH: Ontario signs deal to purchase two terawatt-hours of electricity a year from Quebec
In October, Wynne and Couillard announced plans for Ontario to purchase up to two terawatt-hours of electricity from Quebec each year for the next seven years. Worth roughly $1 billion annually, the deal will supply Ontario with enough hydro power to run 230,000 homes.
The deal will also reduce the amount of electricity Ontario generates with natural gas. In total, the government says the plan will save Ontario ratepayers $70 million and remove roughly one million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
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Meanwhile, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced in January that his state is also seeking to purchase more electricity from Quebec. The announcement came following an agreement to shut down the state’s Indian Point nuclear facility, which provides roughly a quarter of New York City’s electricity supply.
In his annual State of the State address in Manhattan, Cuomo called the Indian Point facility, which is roughly the same age as Ontario’s Pickering plant, a “ticking time-bomb.”
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