Consumption and Imports of Electricity Highest on Record in July: StatCan

Motorists fuel up at a gas station in Vancouver on March 8, 2022. The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck

Amid record-high temperatures across Canada in July, consumption and imports of electricity were the highest on record that month, according to Statistics Canada.

“Electricity exports and hydroelectric generation were the lowest for the month of July since the electricity survey was redesigned as of January 2016. British Columbia, which relies heavily on hydroelectricity, has received the least amount of precipitation to date in 2023 compared with every year since 2016,” said a StatCan analysis published Oct. 10.

“At the same time, Canada’s generation from combustible sources, electricity consumption, and imports were the highest on record for the month of July.”

The agency said total electricity generation in Canada declined by 5.5 percent year over year in July, while hydroelectricity generation, to which British Columbia and Quebec were the main contributors, fell by 13.6 percent. Quebec reduced its electricity export levels in recent months due to a milder winter and low prices.

Meanwhile, electricity consumption rose by 3.6 percent year over year, while imports climbed by 136.6 percent due to B.C. accounting for 89.3 percent of that total. Electricity exports to the United States fell by 42.2 percent.

Canada’s inventory of crude oil declined 5.6 percent year over year to 18 million cubic metres, the 19th consecutive monthly decrease. The country’s oil inventories are at the lowest level since December 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The trend can largely be attributed to increased exports to the United States.

Production of finished petroleum products in Canada rose by 3.9 percent year over year in July, driven by gasoline rising 10.2 percent following consecutive increases since March 2021.

Renewable fuel production climbed 12.6 percent in July to the second-highest level since January 2020. In that month, Canada’s Clean Fuel Regulations came into effect, encouraging the use of clean technologies by coaxing producers to gradually reduce the carbon intensity of gasoline and diesel.

Production of marketable natural gas rose 2.7 percent year over year in July. In May and June, production had notable drops largely due to forest fires across Canada. Exports of natural gas to the United States climbed 3 percent year over year in July, the first increase after six months of decline.