Maritime Electric in the hot seat as MLAs question lack of foresight on power shortages, possible blackouts

Maritime Electric was grilled by politicians during two standing committees Thursday, as MLAs questioned the power utility about Prince Edward Island's need for more power generation, a growing potential for blackouts, and the rate increases Islanders may face this year.

Maritime Electric said it's been talking about the problems for years — and needs the government to help.

“As we are navigating the rapid pace of the energy transition, we must now address the Island’s growing capacity deficit,” Maritime Electric CEO Jason Roberts said during his presentation. 

“We have serious concerns about the risk of rotating outages facing our customers this coming winter.” 

The presentation outlined the utility’s current electricity system, as well as the challenges it is facing surrounding limited infrastructure to keep up with the Island’s growing need. 

"You had COVID in the early 2020s, you had supply-chain issues, then we moved into this very rapid period of electrification through the energy transition and decarbonization goals, and that's really driven the pace of load growth beyond what most people were expecting, beyond what most utilities were expecting," Roberts told CBC News.

P.E.I. Green Party Leader Matt MacFarlane questioned the lack of foresight, especially when the data Maritime Electric presented showed P.E.I.’s power demands have been growing exponentially since 2012. 

“We saw this coming for so long and yet here we are,” he said.

"We're behind the eight ball on this, you talked about damage to property from rolling blackouts... how did we get here?"

Roberts said solutions are in the works, but the utility needs the green light from the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission to move forward. 

Maritime Electric filed an application in December 2024 to build more power generating capacity, calling for 150 more megawatts that would be mostly powered by fossil fuels. Then, in a 2025 filing, the utility told IRAC it had received a "time-sensitive" offer to join with NB Power to secure two 50 MW combustion turbines to be installed in Charlottetown.

That project would cost about $334 million, but both turbines would have refurbished engines, making it a cheaper and faster alternative to buying brand new infrastructure, the utility said.

It also has a request in to IRAC to approve the replacement of two of the Island's four underwater cables — both of which date back to 1977 and will soon need an upgrade. The utility projects that will cost $142 million.

But even if IRAC approves those projects soon, they likely won't be finished until 2028.