New Brunswick Seeks 10-Year Permit to Export Up to 9.85 Million MWh a Year to the U.S.

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New Brunswick’s electricity relationship with the United States could be set for another decade of cross-border trading. New Brunswick Energy Marketing Corporation, the energy-trading subsidiary associated with NB Power, has asked the Canada Energy Regulator for authority to export as much as 9.846 million megawatt-hours of electricity to the United States annually for 10 years.

The filing arrives at a particularly sensitive moment. Electricity demand is rising at home, New Brunswick is preparing major investments in generation and transmission, and Canada-U.S. trade tensions have made energy exports politically significant again. Yet the large headline number needs context: it represents a maximum regulatory authorization combining firm and interruptible electricity, not a commitment to send nearly 10 million MWh south every year.

The Request Sets a Ceiling, Not an Annual Export Target

New Brunswick Energy Marketing Corporation filed its application on August 26, 2026, seeking authorization from the Canada Energy Regulator to export as much as 9,846,000 MWh of combined firm and interruptible electricity annually. The requested permit would run for 10 years. The application became public through the August 29 edition of the Canada Gazette, beginning the federal review process rather than completing it.

That distinction matters because the 9.846-million-MWh figure is an authorization ceiling. It establishes how much electricity could legally be exported under the requested permit, but it does not require that amount to be sold. Actual flows depend on contracts, generation availability, electricity demand, transmission conditions and market opportunities. In a power system where electricity can cross provincial and international boundaries in both directions, the maximum permitted volume can be substantially larger than the amount ultimately delivered in any particular year.

The 9.846-Million-MWh Figure Is Not New

The scale of the request may look striking, but the number itself has a long history. In 2016, New Brunswick Energy Marketing sought authorization for exactly the same annual maximum: 9,846,000 MWh of combined firm and interruptible electricity for a 10-year period. The matching ceiling suggests the latest filing is much more consistent with maintaining established trading flexibility than announcing a dramatic new export expansion.

There are nevertheless changes in the asset portfolio identified in the newer filing. Both applications referenced major facilities including Belledune, Coleson Cove, Mactaquac and Point Lepreau, along with NB Power’s transmission network. The 2026 notice additionally lists the Bayside Generating Station. The province’s generating system has evolved over the past decade, but the requested export ceiling has not increased. That historical comparison provides important perspective on what otherwise sounds like an enormous new cross-border commitment.

Firm and Interruptible Electricity Work Differently

The regulatory language also explains why the headline maximum should be interpreted carefully. Canadian electricity regulations define firm energy as electricity intended to remain available at specified times during the period covered by a sales agreement. Interruptible energy is different: its delivery can be curtailed, interrupted or stopped at the supplier’s option under the terms of the agreement.

Combining both categories gives an electricity marketer considerably more flexibility. Firm contracts can provide customers with dependable scheduled supply, while interruptible sales allow surplus electricity to be marketed when system conditions make those transactions attractive. A utility may therefore hold authorization for a large amount of electricity without operating anywhere near that maximum continuously. New Brunswick Energy Marketing itself offers firm electricity, capacity products, day-ahead and real-time transactions, renewable products and customized energy-management services, illustrating how cross-border trading involves considerably more than simply sending a fixed block of electricity south each day.

New Brunswick Sits at the Centre of a Regional Power Network

New Brunswick occupies an unusually connected position in Atlantic Canada. Electricity moves between the province and Maine, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. The Canada Energy Regulator says New Brunswick had 3.0 TWh of net interprovincial and international electricity outflows in 2023, while the province also imported electricity from Quebec and Maine. Those two-way movements help utilities respond when local generation, demand or prices change.

NB Power operates roughly 6,900 kilometres of transmission lines and oversees 15 external connections. Those links provide approximately 2,378 MW of import capability and more than 2,000 MW of export capability. Two extra-high-voltage international lines between New Brunswick and the United States operate at 345 kV. That infrastructure turns New Brunswick into more than a provincial electricity system. It acts as an important bridge between Atlantic Canadian grids, Quebec and the New England electricity market.

Maine Remains New Brunswick’s Most Visible U.S. Power Relationship

For New Brunswick, exporting electricity to the United States largely means dealing with an interconnected New England system beginning directly across the Maine border. Central Maine Power publishes a normal New Brunswick-to-Maine transfer capability of about 700 MW, while noting that actual transfer limits depend on system conditions, generator availability and transmission outages. That physical connection has made electricity trade part of the relationship between neighbouring communities for decades.

The political importance of that relationship became especially visible just days before the new permit application. On August 25, Premier Susan Holt said the Canada-U.S. trade conflict had not reached the point where New Brunswick would stop supplying electricity to Maine. She described such a step as exceptionally serious and emphasized the longstanding relationship between communities on both sides of the border. The application filed the next day underscores how deeply that cross-border electricity trade remains embedded in normal regional operations.

Out-of-Province Electricity Sales Are Financially Significant

Selling power beyond New Brunswick is already a substantial part of NB Power’s business. For the 2025/26 fiscal year, the utility reported $984 million in out-of-province sales, compared with roughly $2.004 billion in sales inside New Brunswick. That means out-of-province activity represented about one-third of the combined value of those two reported sales categories, although those revenues include Canadian markets as well as exports to the United States.

NB Power also reported 20.743 million MWh of total electricity delivered during the year and 13.443 million MWh delivered within the province. Subtracting those figures leaves about 7.3 million MWh delivered outside New Brunswick. The utility finished the fiscal year with $13 million in net earnings and $6.05 billion in net debt. Against that financial backdrop, external electricity sales provide an important revenue stream. NB Power has specifically said selling surplus electricity outside the province can help reduce costs for New Brunswick customers.

Rising Demand at Home Complicates the Export Story

The export application is arriving while NB Power is simultaneously warning that New Brunswick needs more electricity supply at home. The utility says provincial demand is growing faster than expected and additional supply will be needed by 2028. Its Renewables Integration Grid Security project is designed to provide fast, dispatchable backup generation while supporting additional wind and solar power on the provincial system.

On August 28, the New Brunswick government granted conditional environmental approval to ProEnergy for a 500-MW generating station in Tantramar, subject to 45 conditions. NB Power says the facility is expected to operate only about seven per cent of the time, primarily when renewable electricity or imports cannot meet system needs. That domestic capacity push is an important reminder that an export permit does not mean New Brunswick can ignore local demand. Federal regulators also explicitly examine whether Canadian buyers have been given fair opportunities to purchase electricity offered for export.

Major Generating Assets Will Change During the Permit Period

A 10-year authorization would extend across a period of unusually significant change for NB Power’s generating fleet. Point Lepreau, Atlantic Canada’s only nuclear generating station, returned to operation on August 19 after a planned maintenance outage during which workers completed more than 20,000 tasks. The station has a gross generating capacity of about 705 MW and remains one of New Brunswick’s most important sources of electricity.

At the same time, NB Power is advancing a massive rehabilitation of the 672-MW Mactaquac hydroelectric station. The Mactaquac Life Achievement Project is intended to keep the plant operating for decades, with major work expected to stretch into the late 2030s. NB Power currently estimates the project could cost between $7.6 billion and $9 billion, including inflation and interest. Generation available for trade over the next decade will therefore depend partly on how reliably these major assets perform during lengthy maintenance and modernization programs.

Canadian Electricity Still Plays an Important Role in U.S. Markets

The New Brunswick filing also sits inside a much larger continental electricity relationship. The Canada Energy Regulator reported that Canada supplied 81.3 per cent of the electricity imported by the United States in 2025. Canadian electricity exports to the U.S. were worth approximately $3.3 billion that year, while electricity imports from the United States were valued at roughly $1.4 billion.

New England is particularly accustomed to relying on neighbouring electricity systems. ISO New England says the region is generally a net importer through connections with New Brunswick, Quebec and New York. Net imports supplied about seven per cent of New England’s electricity in 2025, down from higher shares earlier in the decade but still significant. New Brunswick therefore competes and cooperates within a market where imported electricity is already built into regional planning. Its geographical position gives the province opportunities to sell power when New England needs it and purchase power when conditions favour imports.

The Regulatory Process Is Only Beginning

No 10-year permit has been granted yet. The Canada Energy Regulator is now seeking submissions from interested parties before deciding whether to issue a permit or recommend that the application move through a more extensive licensing procedure. Written submissions are due September 28, 2026, while New Brunswick Energy Marketing has until October 13 to respond to those submissions.

Among the regulator’s specific concerns are the effects electricity exports could have on provinces outside New Brunswick and whether potential Canadian customers received an opportunity to purchase available electricity on terms at least as favourable as those associated with exports. Those requirements put domestic access directly into the review. Until the CER reaches a decision, the most accurate description is therefore that New Brunswick Energy Marketing is seeking permission to maintain substantial U.S. export flexibility for another decade—not that New Brunswick has committed 9.85 million MWh of electricity to American buyers every year.

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