The province has two electricity utilities, split by geography. Newfoundland Power bills most customers on the island, about 87% of all accounts in the province, but it generates only a small share of the electricity it sells. Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro (NL Hydro) generates most of the province\'s power and bills customers directly in Labrador, in the isolated diesel communities, and in the rural island areas Newfoundland Power does not serve. There is no retail choice: your address decides your utility.
The retail distributor for the island. Over 276,000 customers, roughly 87% of all accounts in the province. Generates only about 7% of what it delivers and buys the rest from NL Hydro. This is the bill most islanders receive.
The primary generator for the province and the high-voltage backbone. Also the direct retail utility for all of Labrador, the isolated diesel systems, and rural island areas off the Newfoundland Power grid.
The non-obvious thing: for most island homes the company that makes your electricity (NL Hydro) and the company that bills you for it (Newfoundland Power) are not the same. Both are regulated by the Public Utilities Board. That single split is the source of nearly all the confusion when people move here.
The belief that trips up almost everyone who moves here
The natural assumption, carried in from almost everywhere else in Canada, is that one company makes your power and sends your bill, and that if there are two utility names floating around, one must be for gas. Neither is true here. There is no residential natural gas network in the province at all, so both names you will hear are electricity utilities. And on the island, the generator and the biller really are two separate companies.
That belief leads to small, avoidable mistakes: calling NL Hydro to set up an account at a St. John\'s apartment (the account is with Newfoundland Power), or assuming a Newfoundland Power rate change does not apply because "Hydro makes the electricity." The rate you pay on the island is a Newfoundland Power rate, even though most of the energy behind it is generated by NL Hydro.
The split, region by region
Two columns matter when you move: who sends the bill, and, for the curious, who actually generates the power. On the island those are usually different companies; in Labrador and the rural and isolated systems, NL Hydro does both.
| Where you live | Who bills you | Who generates the power |
|---|---|---|
| St. John\'s, Mount Pearl, Conception Bay, most of the island | Newfoundland Power | Mostly NL Hydro (NP generates ~7%) |
| Rural island areas off the Newfoundland Power system | NL Hydro (direct) | NL Hydro |
| Labrador City, Wabush (Labrador Interconnected) | NL Hydro (direct) | NL Hydro |
| Coastal Labrador and island isolated communities | NL Hydro (direct) | NL Hydro (local diesel + the grid) |
Sources: Newfoundland Power, "Who We Are" (over 276,000 customers, ~87% of the province); NL Hydro, "Our Electricity System"; NL Board of Commissioners of Public Utilities. Figures as of June 2026.
The non-obvious thing: generator and biller are different companies
On the island, the electricity is generated mainly by NL Hydro, the provincial Crown corporation, which also owns the big generating stations and the high-voltage transmission network. Newfoundland Power buys the bulk of that energy at wholesale and is responsible for the local distribution system, the poles and wires down your street, the meter on your house, and the customer account. So the chain is: NL Hydro generates, Newfoundland Power delivers and bills, you pay Newfoundland Power, and Newfoundland Power pays NL Hydro.
This matters for two practical reasons. First, when you set up or move service on the island, the account is with Newfoundland Power, even though the news you read about "Hydro" rate hearings is often about the wholesale cost that flows through to your Newfoundland Power bill. Second, the regulator that approves both companies\' rates is the same body, the Public Utilities Board, so a rate decision usually moves both the wholesale cost and the retail bill together.
In Labrador and in the rural and isolated communities, the split disappears: NL Hydro is the company you set up service with, the company that bills you, and the company that generates or imports the power. One name, all roles.
Compare the price of a kilowatt-hour across Canada
Newfoundland and Labrador sits in the lower-middle of the Canadian range for residential electricity. Pick the province below to see how the all-in price per kilowatt-hour compares, and what a given monthly usage would cost. The tool starts on Newfoundland and Labrador and recalculates instantly.
Compare the price of a kWh, province by province
All-in rate paid by a typical residential customer at around 1,000 kWh per month, before taxes. The result recalculates instantly.
Typical apartment: 600 to 800 kWh. Electrically-heated house: 1,500 to 2,500 kWh in winter.
kWh
Indicative estimate for 1,000 kWh per month. The real price varies by consumption tier, service size (200 A vs 400 A), season (some provinces have summer/winter rates) and system charges. Always check the bill from your local distributor.
Source: Hydro-Québec annual report comparing electricity prices in major North American cities, adjusted for the 2026 rate decisions in each province.
How to confirm your utility, in order
-
01Look at a recent bill or ask the previous occupant.
The fastest answer of all. The bill header names the utility, the account-number format and the billing cycle. Any seller or landlord will have a copy.
-
02On the island, assume Newfoundland Power.
St. John's, Mount Pearl, Conception Bay South, Corner Brook, Gander and the rest of the populated island are Newfoundland Power territory. Set up the account with Newfoundland Power.
-
03In Labrador or a rural or isolated community, it is NL Hydro.
Labrador City, Wabush, coastal Labrador and the island's rural and isolated systems are billed directly by NL Hydro. There is no Newfoundland Power account to set up there.
-
04If you are unsure, contact either utility with your address.
Each can confirm in a minute whether your address is on their system. Because there is no retail choice, the answer is simply a fact about your address, not a decision you have to make.
-
05Set up the Equal Payment Plan at the same time.
Both utilities offer it. It spreads the year's cost over twelve equal payments so a heavy electric-heat winter does not arrive as a single shock. See the guide on what to do if you cannot pay a bill for the full toolkit.
Why this matters now
Knowing who bills you is the first link in a chain that runs through everything else on a Newfoundland and Labrador energy bill. It tells you who to call during an outage, which Equal Payment Plan to set up, whose rate decisions to follow, and, because the island\'s power now flows largely from the Muskrat Falls project in Labrador, why a single hydro plant hundreds of kilometres away shows up on a St. John\'s bill. The next guide in this series picks up exactly there.
