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History of Maritime Electric

Incorporation and Establishment on PEI
  • In 2018, Maritime Electric is celebrating its 100th year of operation on PEI. The Company was incorporated in Fredericton, New Brunswick in 1917. In 1918, with the purchase of the Charlottetown Light and Power Company, Maritime Electric expanded its operations in PEI. In 1931, Maritime Electric initiated a program of expansion into rural areas with the purchase of the Montague Electric Company. By 1950, the Company had purchased seven rural electric companies. In 1965, Maritime Electric acquired Canelco Services Limited (formerly Scales Hydro). With that purchase, the era of electrical power service by small independent generators was brought to a close.
  • During the following years Maritime Electric expanded its service territory and continued to increase the capacity and efficiency of its plant to produce electricity at the lowest possible cost for Islanders. In 1977, two 138 kV submarine cables were installed across the Northumberland Strait, providing an interconnection with NB Power to meet the Island’s growing need for electricity.
Maritime Electric Today
  • Maritime Electric is the primary distributor of electricity in PEI, serving over 86,000 customers including the City of Charlottetown and all rural communities. The balance of the population is served by the City of Summerside which operates its own electric utility.

  • Our infrastructure consists of 30 substations, over 6,500 km of transmission and distribution lines and over 125,000 poles. We also maintain four subsea cables that connect our grid to New Brunswick. Our diesel combustion turbines located in Charlottetown and Borden-Carleton have a combined capacity of 89 MW.

  • In 2016/17 Maritime Electric (along with NB Power) acted as construction agents in a collaborative partnership between the Government of Canada and the Government of Prince Edward Island to import electricity from New Brunswick through two new 180 MW subsea cables, overhead transmission lines and substation upgrades. The new subsea cables are owned by the Province of Prince Edward Island and are leased to and operated by Maritime Electric.

  • The Company purchases electricity from NB Power under contractual entitlement to the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station via the four existing subsea cables.

  • The Company has also contracted with the PEI Energy Corporation to purchase a total of 92.5 MW of wind energy from wind farms located in North Cape, Eastern Kings and Hermanville/Clear Springs. Prince Edward Island has the highest level of wind integration in North America with the Island's eight wind farms providing a combined generating capacity of 203 MW.
Ownership and Regulation
  • Maritime Electric owns and operates a fully integrated system providing for the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity to customers throughout Prince Edward Island. The Company is a Public Utility regulated by the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission (IRAC) under the Electric Power Act and the Renewable Energy Act. Electricity rates and directives over all operations and expenditures are subject to IRAC's approval. Maritime Electric Company Limited is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Fortis Inc.
  • Fortis Inc. is a diversified holding company created in 1987, which operates in 17 jurisdictions. All Fortis operations are carried out through its subsidiaries and affiliates. Fortis’ head office is located in St. John’s, Newfoundland.