Electrifying Canada’s Economy Requires Provincial Coordination And Utility Reform

Canada’s new electricity strategy needs coordination between provinces and renewed relationships between utilities and their customers, says Moz Salim, EY Canada’s power and utilities leader. In an interview (see below) with Energi Media, Salim welcomed a federal role in supporting electrification and collaboration across provincial boundaries. But he warned that planning each provincial system separately could produce duplication as Canada expands its electricity infrastructure.

“An independent sort of oversight committee or some sort of oversight across provinces would be helpful,” he said.

The opportunity is to better match generation and infrastructure investment to the needs of a connected national system, rather than treating each province as an isolated planning exercise.

Planning Beyond Provincial Borders

Salim said Canada’s electricity connections are strong along north–south routes into the United States. Strengthening connections between provinces would support a more coordinated approach at home.

He sees room for utilities to collaborate closely on operations and investment. Federal support could help provinces move forward with generation, transmission, distribution, and grid modernization projects.

University of Victoria energy modeller Madeleine McPherson made a similar case in a separate interview with Energi Media. She said provincial planning should remain the bedrock of a national process, with a coordinating entity bringing those plans together to identify the most promising cross-border infrastructure opportunities.

“But what we’re missing is the coordination between provinces,” McPherson said.

Her proposal would retain provincial expertise and account for different provincial climate and energy policies. The missing step is assessing how those individual plans fit together.

McPherson said her team has linked power-system models with macroeconomic models to examine effects on growth, jobs and trade. Those simulations show advantages for growth and competitiveness when greater electrification is combined with power-system planning that lowers costs and improves reliability, including through greater grid integration.

The challenge also involves utility culture. Reliability, affordability, and safety remain central to utility operations, but electrification is creating demands that require different skills and ways of working.

“We’re comfortable,” Salim said of the Canadian sector’s historical position.

He described utilities adopting advanced meters, exploring demand response, and using technology to improve monitoring of vegetation around electricity infrastructure. Innovation is happening, he said, although changing established practices takes time.

The Whole Energy Bill

For customers, Salim argues that the affordability conversation should consider total energy spending, including vehicle fuel and home heating, alongside electricity bills.

His “energy wallet” framing reflects the potential for households to spend more on electricity while reducing purchases of other fuels. Whether a particular household saves money depends on its equipment, consumption, and costs.

McPherson’s interview highlighted the other side of that transition: getting more homes, vehicles and industries to use electricity. She agreed that Canada’s work on electrifying demand lags its ambitions for expanding supply.

“We are not electrifying as fast as other jurisdictions,” she said, pointing to opportunities in transportation, heating and industry.

For McPherson, Canada’s clean, affordable electricity is an advantage that should support faster adoption. For Salim, helping customers make that switch is becoming part of the utility’s job.

Salim cited Britain’s Octopus Energy as an example of a business connecting electricity service with technologies such as electric vehicles, batteries, and heat pumps.

Such models require customer trust, particularly when an energy provider helps manage equipment in the home. They also push utilities beyond their interactions around connections, billing problems, and moving house.

“Now it’s changing to more of an energy advisor,” he said.

He also described utilities reconsidering how upgrade costs are allocated when one customer’s electrical improvements trigger infrastructure work that could benefit others.

People To Build The System

Asked which technologies will matter most, Salim highlighted batteries, nuclear power, and the systems utilities use to manage customer relationships.

He sees batteries playing a larger role alongside renewable generation, while customer technology can help utilities support households adopting electric equipment.

Salim remains optimistic about Canada’s ability to deliver major projects, pointing to experience with nuclear refurbishment as a reason for confidence.

The central execution risk, he said, is having enough people with the necessary skills. Anticipated shortages in skilled trades could constrain the work required to expand and modernize electricity systems.

“The question is going to be, do we have enough people and the skills to execute?” he said.

For Salim, the willingness to move ahead exists. Turning that willingness into infrastructure will depend on the workforce available.