2024-08-24 01:05:51
The drop in exports in the first six months of 2024 dealt a blow to Hydro-Quebec’s net profit, which was $1.84 billion in the period, compared with $2.68 billion a year earlier.
Maxime Aucoin, executive vice president for strategy and finance at the state-owned enterprise, said the financial results released on Friday were in line with the organization’s forecasts.
He explained at a news conference that very low hydropower in 2023 has led Hydro-Quebec to prudently manage its energy stocks, leading to slower electricity sales outside Quebec.
Hydrological conditions are close to historical normal levels in the first half of 2024. However, precipitation has been trending downward since June 30, with low precipitation in the northern part of the province, particularly in James Bay.
“I’ve learned that hydro is a little bit like the stock market. It’s very hard to predict in the short term. So, to me, this validates our strategy of being prudent in the face of all of this and managing our energy inventory well,” he said, noting that the situation had no impact on distribution to customers.
In the first half of 2024, export volume fell 50% from 2023, and average prices fell. Sales revenue in the first half of the year fell to US$707 million from US$1.62 billion in the same period last year.
The state-owned company stressed that in 2023 “average prices in export markets reached unprecedented levels.”
However, in the Quebec market, sales increased despite the fact that the winter of 2023-2024 was milder than the previous winter.
“This was the mildest winter in a decade. The temperature impact meant that our sales were almost 2 TWh lower than the previous year,” Mr Aucoin noted.
However, this was offset by growth in residential and commercial demand. The price indexation on April 1 and price increases related to aluminum smelter contracts also contributed to revenue growth in Quebec. These amounts totaled $7.35 billion.
Reduced downtime due to power outages
In announcing its financial results, the energy producer and distributor also pointed to faster resolution of power outages.
The average number of outage minutes per customer decreased by 65% compared to the first seven months of 2023, from 898 minutes to 318 minutes in 2024.
Mr Aucoin recognised that 2023 was a year with more outages. But he said so far in 2024, the duration was still about 30 per cent shorter than the average over the past five years.
“Outage minutes per customer has two effects: how many outages we have and whether an outage lasts a long time. We are seeing progress on both sides,” said a delighted Mr. Aucoin.
According to him, this is the result of a strategy developed by Hydro-Quebec, which took more proactive actions before the storm arrived in order to better deploy teams when it came time to restore power.
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