Dave,
No Quebec Hydro here for us. Nova Scotia Power (Emera) is the only game in town.
Right now, our rates are $0.13336/kWh + $0.00587/kWh "efficiency" surcharge giving an effective rate of 「13.923/kWh. Then there is a base customer charge of $10.83/mth. We pay a lot for electricity here. One of the highest in North America. And this is subject to frequent change. Not a year goes by when NSP isnt asking for a 6-10% increase. In the last 3 years our rates have gone up about 25%.
Our power generation is quite strange here. It used to be a public utility and when it was privatized there was a provision made that NSP would receive a GUARANTEED rate of return of 9.2% which has since been reduced to 9% because of public outcry. Do you know of any business that has a guarantee that they will earn X amount of profit a year? What do you suppose that does for efficiency?
Currently there is an ongoing scandal with NSP based on a consultant's report that they routinely have been overcharging us for power to the tune of millions and may be in conflict by buying fuel from companies they have a stake in. NSP is doing their best to have the report stifled. Were really getting the shaft here.
I wish it was a free market so I would have Hydro Quebec as an option.
On NSP and small scale renewables, they have Net Metering here. At the end of the year, they will pay out for any kWh extra you generate. You are expected to pay the monthly fee for the whole year and your generator must be sized to your usage, in other words, the best they want you to do is break even (minus the monthly fees) , they dont want you to "make" money.
For larger installs there is a Comfit (community feed in) option, where the community buys a large turbine for example and hydro buys back at a rate. You can make money with this, but this is a huge investment, and as far as I know they aren't taking any more Comfits.