Affordability Takes Centre Stage in Canadian Energy Conversation

Canadians increasingly squeezed by higher prices want governments to support affordable and reliable energy policies

Energi Media journalism in video, audio, and essays

YouTube Channel: Video energy news
Substack Essays: Thoughtful Energy Journalism
Energi Talks Audio Podcast
Website: Energy news

Canadians are no longer thinking about housing affordability only in terms of rent, mortgage payments, or the price of getting into the market. A new Abacus Data survey, conducted for the Canada Green Building Council, suggests the affordability crisis now includes the energy that powers their homes and lifestyles.

Nearly three-quarters of Canadians say their utility costs have increased over the past year; 60 per cent describe energy bills as at least a moderate financial burden; and 38 per cent say they have had to choose between paying energy bills and covering other essentials at least occasionally.

That changes the energy conversation. Energy efficiency is not a boutique climate policy or a premium feature for green consumers. Increasingly, Canadians see it as part of what makes housing affordable in the first place.

Affordability has become the lens through which Canadians view energy

For years, Canadian energy debates have been framed around climate change, emissions reductions, resource development, and energy security. Those issues have not disappeared, but the Abacus survey suggests that affordability is increasingly becoming the public’s primary concern. A majority of Canadians now describe energy costs as a financial burden.

More strikingly, over one-third said they have had to choose between paying energy bills and other necessities at least occasionally. When families begin making trade-offs between keeping the lights on and meeting other basic needs, energy becomes a kitchen-table issue.

For policymakers, utilities, and energy advocates, that shift matters because Canadians are increasingly evaluating the energy system not by how it aligns with political or environmental objectives, but by how it affects household finances.

Energy Is No Longer a Sector Issue

The Abacus survey also highlights a broader shift in how Canadians think about energy. Traditionally, energy has been treated as a sector issue, discussed separately from housing, healthcare, or affordability. Increasingly, however, Canadians are connecting energy costs to their overall economic well-being.

When utility bills consume a larger share of household income, they affect decisions about groceries, transportation, savings, and other essential expenses. This is particularly true for lower-income households, renters, and seniors on fixed incomes, who have less flexibility to absorb rising costs.

In that sense, energy is no longer just about power generation, natural gas distribution, or climate policy. It has become a cost-of-living issue. The significance of that shift should not be underestimated because affordability is now one of the dominant forces shaping Canadian politics and public policy.

The politics of energy have shifted from climate to cost

For more than a decade, energy politics in Canada have been dominated by debates about climate change. Carbon taxes, emissions targets, electric vehicles, renewable energy, and net-zero commitments have all occupied prominent places in public discourse.

The Abacus survey suggests that while Canadians remain concerned about climate change, many are now approaching energy issues through a different lens: cost.

That is not necessarily a rejection of climate action. Rather, it reflects the reality that financial pressures have become more immediate and tangible than long-term environmental goals. For households struggling with rising utility bills, the question is less whether Canada should reduce emissions and more whether energy policies can deliver affordable, reliable services.

Politically, that changes the conversation. Governments and advocates can no longer assume that environmental benefits alone will be enough to build public support. Increasingly, they will have to demonstrate that their policies help Canadians manage the cost of living as well.

Canadians want reliability as much as affordability

Affordability is only half the public concern. Canadians also want confidence that energy will be there when they need it. That matters because reliability is where the household experience of energy becomes inseparable from the performance of the system itself.

A lower bill is welcome, but not if it comes with uncertainty about whether the home can be heated during a cold snap, cooled during a heat wave, or powered because of an outage. The Abacus survey points toward a practical public instinct: Canadians are not asking for an energy system designed around slogans. They want one that works.

That means energy policy has to hold affordability and reliability together, especially as buildings are electrified, demand grows, and extreme weather puts more pressure on grids and utilities. The political test is whether governments can build a cleaner system that remains dependable and affordable in everyday life.

This creates challenges for the clean-energy transition

This shift in public priorities creates a challenge for the clean-energy transition. For years, governments, utilities, and environmental organizations have justified investments in energy efficiency, building retrofits, electrification, and renewable energy primarily on climate grounds.

The Abacus survey suggests that argument may no longer be sufficient on its own.

Canadians facing rising utility bills are less interested in abstract emissions reductions than in tangible financial benefits. If clean-energy policies are perceived as increasing costs, public support could weaken regardless of their environmental merits.

Conversely, if governments can demonstrate that retrofits lower household bills, heat pumps reduce long-term energy expenses, and more efficient buildings improve affordability, they may find a more receptive audience.

The challenge is not technological. It is political. The clean-energy transition increasingly needs to be sold not as an affordability strategy.

The oil and gas industry should not misread the findings

The oil and gas industry should be careful not to overinterpret these findings. Canadians worried about rising energy costs are not necessarily expressing a preference for one fuel over another.

Most households do not consume energy as heat, light, mobility, and comfort, not politicized categories like “fossil fuels.” Whether that energy comes directly from natural gas, gasoline, hydroelectricity, nuclear power, wind, solar, or electricity generated from natural gas is largely irrelevant to consumers if it is reliable and affordable. The survey suggests Canadians are less concerned about the source of their energy than the service it provides.

For policymakers and industry alike, that is an important distinction. Public support is increasingly likely to flow toward solutions that reduce costs and maintain reliability, regardless of where they sit on the energy politics spectrum.

While the survey doesn’t directly address this question, the public's shift in focus to affordability and reliability also has implications for how Canadians view major energy infrastructure projects.

Canadians generally support pipelines and building more LNG plants, but they are wary of large public subsidies to projects that are at risk of becoming stranded assets as the global energy system transitions to cleaner forms of energy.

The federal government's $35 billion bill for the Trans Mountain Expansion pipeline is an example. If private companies want to build pipelines, power plants, transmission lines, or other energy infrastructure using their own capital, many Canadians are likely to support those investments if they improve affordability and reliability. But public enthusiasm may fade quickly when governments ask taxpayers to assume the financial risks.

At a time when households are struggling with rising living costs, Canadians appear to want affordable energy, not expensive public subsidies for producing it.

Policymakers Beware

The Abacus survey points to an important shift in how Canadians think about energy. While policymakers, industry leaders, and advocates often debate energy in terms of climate goals, technology choices, or economic development, consumers are focused on something much simpler: whether the energy they depend on is affordable and reliable.

Rising utility bills have turned energy into a cost-of-living issue, placing it alongside housing, groceries, and other household expenses.

That does not mean Canadians have abandoned environmental concerns or lost interest in the clean-energy transition. It means they increasingly expect energy policies to deliver practical benefits that improve everyday life.

For governments, utilities, and the energy industry, the message is clear. Success will be measured less by the type of energy produced than by whether Canadians can afford to use it.