The isolated grid, in one look
Yukon\'s electricity system is not connected to the rest of North America, so the territory generates everything it uses. Hydro is the backbone, with diesel and a liquefied-natural-gas plant held in reserve for winter peaks. Two utilities run it: Yukon Energy, the public generator, and ATCO Electric Yukon, the distribution utility that bills most customers. Both are regulated by the Yukon Utilities Board. The defining pressure is winter, when electric heat peaks just as hydro is most constrained.
Owns most of the hydro (Whitehorse, Aishihik, Mayo) and the main transmission, plus LNG and diesel backup. Serves a smaller number of customers directly.
The distribution utility for the large majority of Yukon customers across the territory, including the isolated diesel communities. Rates approved by the Yukon Utilities Board.
The seven guides, organized by what you need
Each cluster groups the guides that solve the same kind of question. The grid keystone is the top-of-funnel; everything else links up to it. Read in the order shown for the most useful flow, or jump to whichever guide matches your decision.
How Yukon's isolated grid works
Yukon runs an electricity grid that is not connected to the rest of North America, built on hydro and backed by diesel and thermal generation. That shape explains the winter capacity squeeze, who bills you, and why selling your own solar back to the grid works the way it does. Start here; everything else links up to it.
Yukon's grid is an island. It has no transmission connection to the rest of North America, so the territory has to make all its own power. The backbone is hydro, backed by diesel and thermal generation that is leaned on hardest in the cold, when demand peaks and water is scarce. That isolation and that winter capacity squeeze shape everything else: who bills you, why backup heat is rewarded, and how rooftop solar fits in.
Yukon's Micro-Generation Policy lets homes and businesses generate their own renewable electricity, offset their bill, and be credited for the surplus they send to the grid. Take-up has been real, by the end of 2023 the territory had 816 solar micro-generators connected, totalling 9.5 megawatts. The policy is durable in concept, but on the connected grid new sign-ups have been paused while the isolated system is reinforced, so timing matters.
Heating, heat pumps and the dependable grid
There is no natural gas network, so Yukon homes heat with oil, wood, propane, electricity and increasingly heat pumps, with the territory's own caveat that a heat pump needs backup heat for deep cold. That backup is exactly what the new Dependable Grid Program pays for, and why.
Yukon has no piped natural gas network, so homes run on a real mix: heating oil, wood, propane, electric resistance heat, and increasingly heat pumps. Each fits a different part of a deep-cold climate. Heat pumps are the efficient newcomer, but the territory is explicit that they need a backup heating system for extreme cold, so a pre-existing system should be kept, not removed.
It sounds backwards: a government paying households to install wood, propane or oil backup heat. The logic is grid reliability. On an isolated grid where winter peaks strain supply, a home that can switch off electric heat at the coldest moments, and still stay warm during an outage, makes the whole system more dependable. That is the idea behind the Dependable Grid Program. The mechanism is durable; the dollar amounts and the program's status are new in 2026 and politically contested, so they live in the dated box.
Rebates, affordability and winter resilience
How the Good Energy umbrella rebates stack with federal money, the heating-cost supports that help Yukoners and especially seniors, and the winter outage-prep routine that keeps a home safe when the isolated grid is stretched.
Good Energy is the Yukon government's umbrella rebate program, run by the Energy Branch. It covers heat pumps, insulation and air sealing, ENERGY STAR windows and appliances, solar and more, with an Affordable Heat Pump Program offering higher amounts to low-to-median-income households. Federal money layers in: oil-heated homes get a federal upfront payment toward a heat pump, and some rebates are co-funded by the federal Low Carbon Economy Fund. You apply through the Yukon portal with approved equipment and installers. Amounts go in the dated box.
When heating a home is unaffordable, the durable supports matter more than this year's dollar figure. The Pioneer Utility Grant helps Yukon seniors with home-heating costs, whether they own or rent, and whatever they burn, oil, electricity, wood, propane or pellets. Around it sit the utilities' budget-billing and payment-arrangement options. This guide describes the mechanisms, so the advice holds as amounts change.
On an isolated grid in a deep-cold climate, a winter outage is a power cut and a heating cut at the same time, and the cold is unforgiving. Backup heat that runs without electricity is both a goal of the Dependable Grid Program and a survival basic. This guide covers reporting to the right utility, keeping heat safely, running a generator without poisoning the house, and the readiness routine that earns its keep every Yukon winter.
Frequently asked questions
See every Yukon distributor
ATCO Electric Yukon and Yukon Energy, who serves where, contact details and outage lines, on one page.