Hydro-Québec posts net income of $1.6 billion for the first quarter of 2024

Hydro-Québec is posting net income of $1,576 million for the first three months of 2024. As expected, net income is down $655 million compared to the same quarter last year, due to a reduction in exports and milder temperatures in winter 2024.

“The results for the first quarter of 2024 are consistent with our projections, and continue to be affected by the low runoff experienced by Hydro-Québec last year. Although the sharp drop in water inflows to our large reservoirs in northern Québec during the second half of 2023 had no effect on Québec’s energy supply, its impact is still being felt this year on our electricity exports,” said Maxime Aucoin, Executive Vice President – Strategy and Finance. “In order to manage our resources effectively, we have continued to limit our sales on short-term markets during the first quarter, which contributed to the decline in net income compared to last year.”

For the same period in 2023, Hydro-Québec had posted an all-time high of $2,231 million, when average prices obtained on export markets had reached unprecedented levels.

Quarter highlights

• Action Plan 2035: strong growth in investments and financing activities
  • Increase of 25% in investments in property, plant and equipment and intangible assets compared to the same period last year
    • Close to $1.1 billion invested in three months
  • Nearly two thirds of the funds allocated to generation, transmission and distribution asset sustainment to ensure service reliability and quality
  • Financing activities raised $1.5 billion in the first quarter
• Context of low runoff: reduction in exports
  • Decrease of $793 million in sales outside of Québec due to a decline of 5.2 TWh in volume exported compared to the same period last year
    • Revenues of $446 million for 4.2 TWh
  • Positive impact of the hedging strategy, but less significant than in 2023
    • Average price obtained (including hedging effect): 10.6¢/kWh, compared to 13.2¢/kWh in the first quarter of last year
    • Average market price: 7.1¢/kWh, compared to 6.3¢/kWh for the same period in 2023
• Mildest first quarter of the last 10 years
  • Growth in demand for electricity in Québec in the residential and commercial segments           
    • Revenues of $4,323 million
  • Higher sales revenue due to the indexation of rates

For more information on Hydro-Québec’s first-quarter 2024 results, visit https://www.hydroquebec.com/about/financial-results/quarterly-bulletin.html.