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Two doors into Nunavut energy
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Energy guides
6 plain-English guides on why the diesel micro-grid system is unique, heating with oil and the qulliq, outage and fuel security, net metering, the Kivalliq Hydro-Fibre Link and cutting use up North.
Distributors
There is just one: Qulliq Energy Corporation, the territory-owned utility that generates and distributes power in every Nunavut community. The directory honestly shows a single card.
Nunavut distributors directory
See the distributorNunavut has a single utility, and it is also your retailer. Open its profile for contact details, the 24/7 outage line and how rates are set.
All Nunavut energy guides
Open the guides hub6 guides, organised by cluster. Every one is plain English.
Qulliq Energy Corporation runs 25 stand-alone diesel power plants in 25 communities, with no shared grid, no roads or power lines between them, and no backup. Fuel arrives once a year by summer sealift and is stored on site. This is the most isolated power system in Canada, and it explains everything else about energy here.
Nunavut heats almost universally with delivered fuel oil, stored on site and resupplied by the same summer sealift that brings diesel for power. Running out is a real risk, not an inconvenience. This guide covers the practical reality of oil heat in the Arctic alongside the qulliq, the seal-oil lamp at the heart of Inuit warmth and light.
In a fly-in, sealift-only community a winter outage is a life-safety event, and the deeper risk is fuel security: if the annual resupply or on-site storage falls short, there is no pipeline or grid to fall back on. Here is how to prepare a household and why the community's tank farm is the real backstop.
QEC's Net Metering Program lets residential and municipal customers generate up to 15 kW of renewable power and feed surplus back for credits, while the Commercial and Institutional Power Producer and Independent Power Producer programs let businesses, governments and Inuit-owned organizations sell to the utility. The economic ceiling worth understanding is the avoided cost of diesel.
A proposed 1,200 km power-and-fibre corridor from northern Manitoba to Nunavut's Kivalliq region, led by the Inuit-owned Nukik Corporation, would connect five communities and area gold mines to Manitoba's hydro grid, displacing roughly 138 million litres of fuel and about 371,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas a year. It is the project to watch, still in planning, with cost and timeline in a dated box.
Nunavut has fewer formal rebate programs than other territories, so the durable levers are behavioural and structural: insulation, draft-proofing, heat retention, and net metering for those who can install it. This is an honest efficiency guide that points to Nunavut Housing Corporation and federal and territorial clean-energy initiatives rather than a fabricated rebate catalogue.
One Crown utility, 25 isolated grids
Nunavut is a regulated market with no retail competition, and unlike anywhere else in Canada there is no grid at all: every community is its own diesel island.
One utility, no interconnection, and a Minister who signs off on rates.
Qulliq Energy Corporation generates and delivers electricity in all 25 communities, each from its own stand-alone diesel plant with no link to the next. There is no competitive retail layer. The Utility Rates Review Council (URRC) reviews rate applications and advises the Minister responsible for QEC, who approves the rates. The Government of Nunavut holds residential bills down through the Nunavut Electricity Subsidy Program.
The sole, territory-owned utility. Generator, wires and retailer in every community, each one an isolated diesel micro-grid.
Homes heat almost universally with oil, stored on site and resupplied by the same summer sealift that brings diesel for power.
The Utility Rates Review Council reviews and advises; the Minister responsible for QEC makes the final rate decision.
Nunavut vs the rest of Canada
Nunavut is the polar opposite of the cheap-hydro provinces: diesel everywhere, the highest costs in the country, and no grid at all to share power.
Albertans pick from 60+ retailers on one connected grid. Nunavut has none of that.
A Crown hydro utility with the lowest rates. Nunavut shares the Crown model but burns diesel.
Also a Crown utility on isolated grids, but with some hydro. Nunavut is almost entirely diesel.
How Nunavut got here
From a single Crown utility to net metering and the projects that could finally end diesel dependence.
The territory of Nunavut is established, carved out of the eastern Northwest Territories, with its own government and public institutions.
Nunavut's own Crown power utility takes over generation and distribution for every community, inheriting a fleet of stand-alone diesel plants.
QEC opens a Net Metering Program, letting residential and municipal customers generate renewable power and feed surplus back for credits.
The Government of Nunavut sets out an energy direction to cut diesel reliance through solar, efficiency and Inuit-led power producers.
The Inuit-owned Nukik Corporation advances a power-and-fibre corridor from Manitoba that could connect five Kivalliq communities off diesel.
Solar, district heating, geothermal and producer programs chip away at diesel community by community, with subsidy still holding bills down.
The 60-second mental model
Three things to hold in your head: diesel, no grid, and a Minister who signs off on rates.
QEC runs a stand-alone diesel plant in each of the 25 communities. Fuel arrives once a year by summer sealift and is stored on site, which is why power is the most expensive in Canada.
There is no shared transmission grid and no roads or lines between communities. Power generated in one place cannot reach a neighbour, even during an outage. QEC is the only utility, so there is no competitive layer.
The Utility Rates Review Council reviews QEC's rate applications and advises the Minister responsible for QEC, who approves the final rates. Subsidy then shields residential customers from the true diesel cost.
So what does this actually mean for you?
Six concrete things that change because you are a Nunavut energy consumer.
You cannot pick a power retailer. Qulliq Energy Corporation bills every household. Your savings come from using less and from net metering, never from switching supplier.
The true cost of diesel power is the highest in Canada. What you actually pay is held down by the Nunavut Electricity Subsidy Program, not by a low underlying rate.
With no neighbouring grid to fall back on, a winter outage in a fly-in community is a life-safety matter. Prepare a household kit and know the community tank farm is the real backstop.
QEC's Net Metering Program lets you generate up to 15 kW of renewable power and feed surplus back for credits. The value is capped by the avoided cost of diesel.
Homes heat almost universally with delivered fuel oil, stored in on-site tanks and resupplied by the summer sealift. Running out is a real risk, so storage and timing matter.
Power out? Call Qulliq Energy Corporation's 24/7 outage line, 1-833-313-3030. For accounts and billing, 1-866-710-4200, weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. In a life-threatening emergency, 911 where available.
Energy in other provinces & territories
Canada energy homeEvery province and territory runs its energy market differently. Compare Nunavut with the rest of Canada.
Frequently asked questions
Start with the right guide
The Nunavut guide library covers the diesel micro-grid system, heating with oil and the qulliq, outage and fuel security, net metering, the Kivalliq Hydro-Fibre Link and cutting energy use up North.