Hydro-Québec expects exports to remain under pressure in 2025

Trade war or not, Hydro-Québec will have to continue to limit its exports to the United States. A Hydro-Québec worker on September 1, 2023. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press)

Trade war or not, Hydro-Québec will have to continue to limit its exports to the United States because of low water levels in its reservoirs.

The utility had to “tightly manage” its inventories in 2023 and 2024 because of low precipitation, which led to a drop in sales outside Quebec.

Hydro-Québec believes that the situation will continue in 2025, according to its 2024 annual report published on Thursday. It expects net income to fluctuate between $2.4 billion and $3 billion.

Between 2014 and 2023, Hydro-Québec’s average net income was $3 billion, according to information revealed in the 2023 annual report. In 2022, the utility posted record net income of $4.56 billion.

In 2024, the utility posted net income of $2.66 billion. Since 2014, profits have been lower only once, in 2020, at the start of the pandemic.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Feb. 27, 2025.