Utilities

Between 2013 and 2014, the number of all electricity customers, including residential, farm, commercial, and industrial, rose by 30,809 or 1.8% to a total of 1,699,926. During the same period, power usage for all customers climbed from 54,131 gigawatt-hours (GwH) to 55,379 GwH. Nevertheless, capital investment in this industry dropped from $6 billion in January 2014 to $4.5 billion a year later. In 2015, the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) celebrated 100 years of public utility regulation in Alberta with the core responsibilities of regulating price, service quality and supply of public utility services.

The province's 2015 Climate Leadership Plan outlined policies to limit coal pollution, effectively phasing out coal-fired electricity generation by 2030. The plan also announced polices to encourage renewable resource technologies and innovations. The Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) organization predicts this will likely happen with new wind-generation facilities. The organization also forecasts residential electricity consumption to grow by 1.6% annually over the next 20 years, with commercial demand growing by 2.2% annually over the same period. This constant demand will mean a steady development of facilities over that period.