Editor,
The recent Doane Grant Thornton energy review, commissioned by the PEI government and released in August 2025, should alarm Islanders and Canadians alike. Despite widespread calls for a publicly owned energy utility, the report flatly rejected the idea. Instead, it endorsed Maritime Electric’s plan to spend $334 million on new diesel combustion turbines — locking Islanders into fossil fuels and forcing ratepayers to shoulder 7–8 percent higher bills, all while profits flow to Fortis Inc. shareholders.
This is a textbook example of why waiting for private utilities to act in the public interest is fool’s play. Their priority is not climate resilience or energy affordability — it is profit. At a time when climate collapse is accelerating, Islanders are being told to pay more for a deeper dependence on fossil fuels.
The case for public energy ownership could not be clearer. When utilities are in public hands, profits can be reinvested in the community rather than siphoned off as dividends. Instead of diesel turbines, those hundreds of millions could support programs to retrofit homes, expand renewables, modernize the grid, and cut bills for families.
The review’s proposal to create a consumer advocate is a weak substitute for real accountability. What Islanders need is not a watchdog on the sidelines, but direct democratic control of their energy system.
If that sounds idealistic, consider the Nordic countries, Iceland runs almost entirely on geothermal and hydro. Norway generates virtually all of its electricity from publicly owned hydropower and reinvests those revenues into public services and resilience. Denmark, once coal-dependent, now produces more than half its electricity from wind, thanks to a mix of municipal ownership, state planning, and cooperatives.
These countries prove that rapid renewable transitions are possible when energy is treated as a public good. By contrast, private utilities, bound to shareholders, hedge their bets, delay change, and cling to fossil infrastructure.
PEI, in fact, has similar potential. It is recognized as one of the world’s best locations for wind energy, already producing a substantial portion of its electricity from island wind farms. Combined with solar panels, the promise of tidal power and emerging battery storage technologies, PEI could be on a sustainable path to true energy independence, if only its energy system were governed for the public good rather than private shareholders.
Canada does not need to look abroad to see the power of public enterprise. From the Bank of Canada to Canada Post to the CBC, Crown corporations have long demonstrated the ability to deliver essential services where markets failed. The Quiet Revolution in Quebec showed how public ownership of Hydro-Québec could transform a province’s energy future, expanding hydro electricity to the point where nearly all its electricity is now renewable.
Yet decades of privatization have weakened this tradition. Petro-Canada was sold off, Air Canada was privatized. Energy systems in provinces like PEI were left to private monopolies. The result is today’s absurdity: Islanders are being told to embrace diesel in the middle of a climate emergency.
Climate collapse is no longer a distant threat. It is here. Hurricanes batter Atlantic Canada. Heat domes scorch the West. Forest fires choke our skies. The urgency of transformation cannot be overstated. And yet our current model leaves essential infrastructure in private hands, where ecological priorities will always be subordinated to quarterly earnings.
Public enterprise is not a panacea, but it offers something the private sector never will: the ability to align energy systems with long-term social and ecological goals. Profits can be recycled into resilience, not dividends. Investments can be judged on necessity, not on rate of return. Planning can be driven by communities, not corporate boards.
The review reveals the bankruptcy of the balanced approach. Balancing renewables with more fossil fuels, balancing consumer protections with shareholder profits, balancing survival with delay. Islanders, and Canadians, more broadly, deserve better.
We should demand public ownership of our energy systems, not only to lower costs but to meet the ecological challenge of our time. What we lack is the political will.
At this crossroads, we can either double down on fossil dependency under private monopolies — or reclaim our public power and invest it in a future worth living in.
Phil Ferraro and Nancy Willis
Institute for Bioregional Studies Ltd.
