Quebec consumer groups warn Hydro-Québec projects could drive up rates

Three associations representing residential consumers, small businesses and large industrial companies want the Energy Board to be given more teeth. The Beauharnois power plant in Beauharnois, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (Canadian Press/Christinne Muschi)

Three associations representing residential consumers, small businesses and major industrial users say the the energy board (Régie de l’énergie) should be given more power to oversee Hydro-Québec, or customers could be faced with steep electricity bills.

Option consommateurs, the Fédération canadienne de l’entreprise indépendante (FCEI) and the Association québécoise des consommateurs industriels d’électricité (AQCIE) issued the joint warning as Hydro-Québec embarks on major investments.

The Crown corporation plans to spend nearly $200 billion by 2035 to boost production and improve the reliability of its network.

Without stronger oversight, Hydro-Québec’s extensive construction projects could drive up electricity costs in Quebec, the groups say.

“Otherwise, we could end up with decisions that will lead us straight into a wall in the coming years,” said Option consommateurs’ director general, Christian Corbeil, in an interview.

The energy board must be given sharper tools quickly, added François Vincent, the CFIB’s Quebec vice-president, in the same interview.

“When rates are out of control, that’s not when it will be time to act and reform the energy framework,” he said. “There will be major expenses and investments that will put pressure on everyone.”

‘The best guarantee of protection’

The three groups say the Legault government has weakened the the board’s role.

The regulator would serve as “the best guarantee of protection” for all categories of clients served by the Hydro-Québec monopoly, said AQCIE president Jocelyn Allard.

“We need an organization like the the board to make sure we’re not exaggerating — that the expenses, investments and costs that will be absorbed by customers are reasonable and useful,” Allard said. “That’s the board’s role. It worked.”

The three associations oppose moving to a rate review every three years instead of annually.

“Every year, the energy board would make sure to verify certain aspects of Hydro-Québec’s applications,” Allard said. “That’s why it’s useful.”

The business community has repeatedly criticized the Legault government’s intervention in the electricity rate-setting process.

Quebec has capped residential rate increases at three per cent. Businesses, however, will face higher costs when Hydro-Québec needs a larger rate hike to offset rising expenses.

Hydro-Québec is asking the energy board to approve a three per cent increase for households in 2026, 2027 and 2028. It is seeking a larger hike — 4.8 per cent — for businesses and institutions.

Even though residential increases are capped, Option consommateurs also disagrees with the government’s intervention.

“The three per cent is very arbitrary,” Corbeil said. “We have to remember that it was a government decree. The next government could decide not to apply the decree.”

By capping rates for all residential clients, the government is going too broad, he added. “It’s not the person with a big pool or a big house who needs the cap.”

The three groups instead propose adding an “energy” component to the solidarity tax credit. They say the measure would be better targeted and inexpensive.

They estimate their proposal would cost $44 million and provide help equal to one per cent of the electricity bill for lower-income households — a way to soften the impact of rising rates.

By Stéphane Rolland

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on March 1, 2026.