Hey folks, wanna read something REALLY funny?
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One of these days... (very soon) Canadians will reach the breaking point with Donald Drumpf and show him just how much... "He doesn't need anything from Canada!!!
Forget the oil and the gas, and the potash, and the uranium, and the lumber, and the precious metals... let's just take a look at ONE of the weapons we have in our arsenal!
ELECTRICITY!
The US cities that run on Canadian electricity... and don’t know it!
Story by
Most Americans flip a light switch without a single thought about where that power actually began. In dozens of US towns, though, the electricity humming through the walls started its journey hundreds of miles north, behind a Canadian dam or wind farm. Canada and the United States share one of the most connected power grids on the planet, and 86 international power lines along the Canada-US border move electricity between provinces and states.
This quiet setup worked smoothly for over a century, mostly because the two countries got along. Recent trade fights changed that, putting the hidden energy lifeline in the spotlight as tariffs and counter-threats flew. Suddenly, the idea that a Canadian premier could flip a switch and raise American power bills felt very real.
Here are some US cities and regions that lean on Canadian electricity far more than the people living there might guess!
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Vermont stands out as the clearest example of American reliance on Canadian power, and Burlington sits right in the middle of it. Hydro-Québec has agreed to supply roughly 25% of the state’s annual electricity needs through 2038, so Canadian hydropower makes up about a quarter of Vermont’s electricity portfolio, if not more. The connection runs through a transmission line linking a Quebec substation to the Highgate substation in northwest Vermont. Much of the state’s clean energy image is actually Canadian-made.
Power flows into Buffalo from across the Niagara River, and the city would feel a sudden cutoff harder than almost anywhere else. Buffalo and upstate New York would take an especially hard hit if Ontario restricted exports, since that tends to happen during a cold, peak-demand stretch of the year.
Experts warned that cutting electricity with little warning could cause severe impacts on both prices and the volume of power available. Sitting close to the border makes the city both lucky and exposed. Cheap, steady Canadian power feels like a gift right up until someone threatens to take it away.
Down the road from Buffalo, Rochester shares the same heavy dependence on Ontario’s grid. One senior energy analyst noted that any Ontario move to restrict exports would fall especially hard on Buffalo and upstate New York, including Rochester. Timing makes it worse because the threat surfaced during winter, when heating demand peaks and the system has little slack. New York as a whole buys more Canadian power than any other state. That fact leaves mid-sized cities like Rochester quietly vulnerable to politics playing out hundreds of miles away.
America’s largest city ties into the Canadian grid too, mostly through Quebec’s massive hydro network. Quebec exported about 10.39 TWh of hydropower-driven electricity to New York in 2017, with Ontario adding another 8.22 TWh.
New York State leads the country in Canadian imports, bringing in 8.6 million MWh in 2024, worth $491 million, with 77% of that coming from Ontario. Builders have completed a major project to push even more Quebec hydropower straight into the city. A chunk of the round-the-clock power in the city that never sleeps carries a Canadian accent.
Right across the river from Windsor, Detroit is wired directly into Ontario’s system. The electricity link connecting Michigan with Ontario consists mostly of Ontario exports into Detroit. A twist complicates the picture, because much of that power never stays put.
State regulators explain that plenty of electricity flows across the border into Michigan, yet almost none of it stays; instead, it moves eastward into Ohio and back into Canada near Niagara in a pattern called the Lake Erie Loop Flow. The city acts less like a destination and more like a busy hallway for Canadian electrons.
Bitter winters push Minnesota to draw heavily on its northern neighbour, especially the province of Manitoba. Every bit of electricity Manitoba sold to the United States in 2024 went to Minnesota, making the state its only customer.
Minnesota also ranked among five border states, alongside New York, Vermont, Michigan, and Maine, that together accounted for 78% of all Canadian exports in 2024. That dependence explains why Minnesota landed on the list of states facing an export surcharge during the trade fight. The Twin Cities stay warm partly thanks to Canadian dams.
Maine’s power story belongs almost entirely to New Brunswick. Every bit of New Brunswick’s electricity exports flowed to Maine in 2024. That single-source relationship means the entire state, Portland included, relies on a single Canadian province for its imported power. New Brunswick’s cross-border electricity sales feed directly into Maine. Residents rarely think about this tidy, direct connection. When trade tensions flared, the quiet pipeline suddenly looked like a pressure point.
The Pacific Northwest runs on a different Canadian partner, British Columbia. British Columbia accounts for roughly 95% of Canadian electricity exports in the western region, and about 15% of those sales end up in Washington. BC also reaches farther than any other province, selling electricity to 13 states, with Washington as its biggest customer. Seattle benefits from BC’s huge hydro output flowing south across the border. The clean, rainy Northwest essentially shares a watershed and a power supply with its Canadian neighbour.
Montana might feel remote, yet Great Falls plugs straight into the cross-border grid. Analysts named it among the cities that still benefit significantly from Canadian electricity. Sitting close to the Alberta and BC borders, the region taps Canadian supply whenever it makes economic sense.
Provinces sell their excess power to the south when American buyers need it, and US distributors import it when it costs less than generating it themselves. Those northern connections quietly add stability to a sparsely populated state. Most folks in Great Falls would be surprised to learn how international their light switch really is.
Perched on the St. Lawrence River, this small city sits practically on top of the Canadian border. Energy experts specifically named Ogdensburg among the US cities that still benefit significantly from Canadian electricity. Being right at the water’s edge puts it among the closest American communities to Ontario’s grid.
New York overall pulls most of its Canadian power from Ontario and imports the largest share of any state. Tiny border towns like this one often hold the deepest, oldest ties to the Canadian system. The river marking the boundary also carries the power.
Pembina reaches about as far north as you can get in the lower 48, and its power supply shows it. The city appears among those that still benefit significantly from Canadian electricity. North Dakota receives power largely from Manitoba’s grid, which sends electricity south alongside Minnesota’s supply.
Manitoba exports electricity to both North Dakota and Minnesota through the central cross-border link. For a town wedged against the Manitoba line, Canadian power feels like the neighbour next door rather than anything exotic. The border here works more as a formality than a barrier for electrons.
New England’s biggest city has quietly bought Canadian hydropower for decades. Hydro-Québec built a 450-kV DC line in the early 1990s connecting its huge James Bay complex to the Sandy Pond substation near Boston, and it has since delivered more than 100 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity.
That single line has served as a steady clean-energy artery into the region. Hydro-Québec has sold power into New England since the 1980s. Boston’s push toward greener energy rests on a Canadian backbone. The lights of the city carry a little bit of Quebec in them.
Chicago sits inside a larger Midwestern grid that trades power back and forth with Canada. Canada’s main customers include the Midwestern states, fed largely by Ontario and Manitoba. Because the grid stays interconnected, electricity generated in Canada can flow through several states before reaching a given home.
This trade matters for grid balancing, constantly matching electricity use to electricity production across the region. Even an inland giant like Chicago indirectly leans on its northern supply. The grid doesn’t really care where someone drew the border.
Wisconsin came up by name when Ontario’s premier listed the states he could squeeze. Ontario’s leader said the province stood ready to go as far as cutting off energy flowing to Michigan, New York, and Wisconsin. Milwaukee sits in that same Midwestern grid network that exchanges power with Canada every day.
US utilities import Canadian electricity when they face a shortfall or when it simply costs less than producing their own. Those facts make the city part of the quiet web of cross-border dependence. A trade dispute in Ottawa could ripple all the way to a Milwaukee utility bill.
Beyond Portland, the smaller communities along Maine’s northern edge bind even more tightly to New Brunswick. Because every bit of New Brunswick’s exports went to Maine in 2024, the entire state’s imported power traces back to one province. For these border towns, the Canadian grid often serves as the nearest and most practical source. New Brunswick’s cross-border electricity sales feed directly into Maine. These communities live the US-Canada energy partnership more directly than almost anyone. When relations sour, they feel the chill first.
N.Y.C. after we shut off the electricity!!!
