Furey sees leverage for N.L. in record $4.6B Hydro-Québec profits

Watching Hydro-Québec rake in unprecedented billions in profits, Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey sees the positive.

"I do think that it highlights what an incredible position we are in right now," he told reporters Thursday afternoon, ahead of a sit-down in St. John's with his Quebec counterpart, Premier François Legault, to talk about the source of a good chunk of that money.

Furey's sentiment — like a third of Hydro-Québec's record $4.6-billion profit — comes from Churchill Falls.

In its 2022 annual report, released earlier this week, Quebec's Crown energy corporation reported its highest-ever earnings, up almost a billion dollars from the year before. Nearly $3.5 billion of that money went back to the Quebec government.

The generating station on the Churchill River supplies Quebec with incredibly cheap power — 0.2 cents per kilowatt-hour — which Quebec then sells at a massive markup. Hydro-Québec's annual report noted the average export sale price in 2022 was 8.2 cents per kilowatt-hour.

Legault arrived in St. John's on Thursday, and had dinner with Furey at The Rooms that night. On Friday, the two leaders are set to talk about that deal, and what happens when it ends in 2041.

Furey won't call the meetings a negotiation, but he did say he thinks the utility's earnings strengthen Newfoundland and Labrador's position.

"Hydro-Québec obviously needs those profits, they need that asset," he said.

Furey — responding to the export prices and citing disrupted energy markets — said the generating station "gets more valuable by the day."

He has described power needs in Quebec as "urgent, not just for export but for domestic use," and Legault has made renewing the deal a priority as the province tries to lower emissions and meet its growing electricity needs.

Furey and Legault are set to meet Friday morning in St. John's. 

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