Incredible increase: how much will electricity costs in Canada rise this winter?

Most Canadians can expect a 50-100% increase in their natural gas or electricity bill this winter, according to one energy analyst.

According to EnergyRates.ca founder Joel McDonald, some citizens’ bills could grow by 300 percent, while others could see minimal growth, but the overall trend is clear.

The reason for this problem is rising prices for natural gas, which provides 8.5 percent of Canada’s electricity.

According to Statistics Canada, 61% of Canadians use traditional gas-fired systems such as stoves and boilers to heat their homes. A minority of 29 percent use electric baseboard and radiant heating systems. The rest use heat pumps, stoves and other heating systems.

Currently, according to McDonald, natural gas prices are rising due to geopolitical divisions in Europe, the global transition to renewable energy, seasonal demand, the federal carbon tax and gas price cyclical fluctuations over a roughly 20-year period.

Some of these factors are predictable. Some, like the war in Ukraine, are not. The war reduced the world’s supply of natural gas, which generally led to higher prices. It also reduced Europe’s access to this resource. As a result, the US has increased natural gas exports to Europe and Canada has increased exports to the US, further reducing supplies to Canada. Natural gas is currently five times more expensive in Europe than in Canada, McDonald said, but as supplies shrink, that will change.