Canada’s largest utility, Hydro Quebec, is proud of its low prices. It also pays customers to use less power, effectively “erasing” themselves from the grid at times of peak demand.

At the Energy Smart summit held as part of the DCD>Webscale event in San Francisco, Hydro Quebec’s president, explained why data centers should consider the province for its low energy cost, and a climate which enables facilities to run more efficiently. He also described the company’s demand response strategy.

”We have the cheapest electricity in the Americas - two to three cents per kiloWatt hour,” he said. “The average temperature during the year is 42ºF.” 

He also described how data centers in the province could help make the grid more efficiently through “peak shaving” - and get paid for it: “We are paying our customers to erase themselves when there is high demand, so we can use the energy more efficiently.”