Is there enough electricity to meet demand in the Yukon?

Electricity demand is on the rise in Yukon, both with residential and commercial customers. Several years ago, the average Yukon family used 803 kilowatts per month. Now they use approximately 826 kilowatts per month. That's an overall increase of 2.8 percent. Even with energy efficient appliances and more energy efficient homes, electricity usage is still more than it was a few years ago.

Commercial infrastructure and expansion around the territory are also on the rise, with mining leading the way. We are continually looking for new and better ways to produce enough energy to match our growing Yukon economy.

To be more specific, right now we generate about 380 gigawatt hours of electricity per year. By 2014 we believe we may need up to 203 additional gigawatt hours of power annually.

Here is a list of the projects or potential projects we are working on, and how much they could help in reducing future diesel usage:

In addition we are looking at geo-thermal, wind, solar, and energy conservation to further reduce the need to burn diesel.

Bottom line: Yukon Energy will need to draw on all of these sources or we'll have to burn a lot more diesel to offset the increasing demand.