“You’re not charging your iPhones unless we’re ready,” says Bryce Conrad, CEO and President of Hydro Ottawa. Hydro Ottawa is “staring down the barrel of a historic investment” as it seeks to satisfy rising electricity demand, the utility’s CEO warned city council on Tuesday. According to Bryce Conrad, the federal government’s efforts to electrify and reduce Canada’s carbon footprint will require the country to double or even triple its electrical power generation over the next 25 years.

“Imagine every dam, turbine, nuclear plant, and solar panel, then imagine a couple more next to them,” Conrad remarked while presenting Hydro Ottawa’s annual report to council.

“Two additional Niagara Falls and James Bay projects in Quebec … “This is something considerably more ambitious than any other national building projects in Canadian history, including the Canadian Pacific Railway, the St. Lawrence Seaway, and the Trans-Canada Highway,” Conrad stated.

Although the federal government has made significant investments in power generating and transmission lines, there has been little funding to assist local power distribution networks such as Hydro Ottawa, he added. “We are, effectively, the last mile,” Conrad added. “You’re not charging your iPhones if we’re not ready for it.”

Hydro Ottawa has submitted applications to the Ontario Energy Board, which determines energy rates, but Conrad cannot predict how much it will all cost in the end. Hydro Ottawa cannot manage its own pricing. However, the federal and provincial governments will need to contribute to the investment.

“I think it’s too much to expect ratepayers to pay for it exclusively,” he told me. “Some of that has to be paid for by the taxpayer.”

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