Energy saving: Set your alarm clock to load washing…

Are you ready to turn on your dishwasher, washer and dryer overnight? Government calls for energy restraint? Are you ready to change the time you bathe or bathe the kids?

That’s all we can ask for though. The goal is noble: to avoid peaks in our electricity consumption and to spread our use throughout the day or night to generate collective energy savings.

Because it has to be said that the narrative around hydropower has changed radically in the last few months. They have been saying for years that they are swimming with energy, not knowing what to do with it. We exported a lot, too much for us!

However, over the past few months, the message has been very different. Capabilities seem limited to the extent that we cannot support energy-intensive investment projects. Moreover, Quebec has been forced to abandon a Volkswagen plant on its territory due to power shortages, according to the Ministry of Energy and Finance. The awakening was brutal.

You always think you’re as rich as Croesus, bought yourself a big cabin, a nice car and all kinds of stuff, only to find out you won’t have enough to pay for your groceries next month. It hurts. But it could be because you’re planning your expenses incorrectly, not looking at your bank statements, and not consulting your financial planner. You acted irresponsibly and today you need to tighten your loins.

Have successive governments been willfully blind? Hard to decide. One thing is for sure, they are all too proud to announce we have export deals with US states to ban the sale of gasoline powered vehicles by 2035 and remind anyone listening that we are blessed by the gods. And our hydropower is abundant.

But especially for Hydro-Québec you have to ask questions. That is, we did not sound the alarm early, we did not call to start new projects to develop our energy capacity, beyond moderation, to support our ambitions, especially in this sense financially. The interim CEO was also absent from the parliamentary committee’s study of appropriations. She said.

Many today feel betrayed. And unfortunately they are probably not wrong.