The cheapest power on the board and an open, clean grid. The limit is size: a small system can only absorb so much 100 MW-plus load, and large-load demand here is still early.
See live grid data →Open access: Manitoba Hydro welcomes large load.
Good margin on paper, but a small absolute system.
The cheapest power of any market here.
Nascent momentum.
Near-zero operational carbon (~4 g), hydro.
Manitoba Hydro is about 97% hydro, cheap and clean, but that deep hydro dependence carries a drought-year adequacy exposure similar to British Columbia.
What this means: A large new load faces occasional exposure here. Monitor conditions and keep a contingency plan.
modelled
We have not compiled what firm service actually promises here: whether it is firm, non-firm or interruptible, the conditions under which you can be curtailed, the redundancy required of you, and the transfer time behind any N-1 commitment. Treat this as an open diligence item, not as an indication that service is firm.
Utility feeds, UPS, storage, on-site generation, islanding, black start and the residual energy you still expect to lose are properties of a specific site design, not of a market. This layer only exists once there is a site, and we never assert it for you.
What this means: Supply and demand look broadly balanced; the outcome hinges on the drivers below.
about 4 to 5 cents CAD per kWh (about $0.035 per kWh)
regulated, Manitoba Hydro large-industrial rate, 2026
Low regulated hydro rate, slow-moving; set by the Public Utilities Board.
Manitoba has no competitive wholesale market; a large load buys Manitoba Hydro's regulated industrial rate, roughly 4 to 5 Canadian cents per kWh (about 3.5 US cents), among the lowest anywhere. The regulated tariff, not a spot price, is what a data center pays.
Basis: measured. Source: Manitoba Hydro electricity rates.
Moderate
1 of 2 data layers measured
Partial
1 of 3 dimensions: reliability, connection, cost
June 2026
per-layer vintages below
| Layer | Method | Vintage | Freshness | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PGIQ Rating opinion | opinion | June 2026 | Current | PGIQ methodology |
| Reliability review | modelled | 2025 | Fresh | on the market page |
| Large-user tariff | administered | 2026 | Fresh | Manitoba Hydro electricity rates |
Freshness reflects each layer's refresh cadence: reliability annual to three-yearly, capacity-auction and queue yearly, tariffs every year or two. The full cross-market freshness dashboard is at /data-quality.
Not compiled for this market. Identify the serving operator before relying on any figure here, because a market-level read is an average over territories.
How the connection process is organised: the applicable service and connection entities depend on the candidate location and the power pathway. We have not compiled the structure for this market; that is a gap in our wayfinding, not a fact about the market.
How Manitoba's reliability-adjusted score and tier have moved, month by month. Part of your Analyst Desk.
Every field above carries its own source and freshness. Price, imports and exports are modelled in every market because no feed supplies them. Carbon intensity is derived from the fuel mix.
Done with Manitoba? Browse every market or see conditions across every region.
This page is our full read on Manitoba alone, and it is free. To decide where a large load should actually go, you need every market side by side, ranked on recurring cost and time-to-connect, with the history and alerts when your shortlist moves. That is the Analyst Desk.
With your Analyst Desk, compare Manitoba against every market side by side, ranked on recurring cost and time-to-connect, with the full history and shortlist alerts.
The national greenhouse gas inventory publishes a measured carbon intensity for Manitoba. It differs from the figure this page serves, and both are shown rather than one quietly replacing the other.
| Served here | ECCC inventory, 2024 |
|---|---|
| 6 gCO2eq/kWh hand authored undeclared basis | 2.7 gCO2eq/kWh generation intensity, Table A7-8, preliminary |
We publish 3.3 gCO2eq/kWh higher than the inventory measures. The fuel mix on this record is also unsourced and also differs: it states 1% gas, while Manitoba generated 0.25% of its electricity from gas in 2024. How much of the intensity gap that accounts for is not established, and differs by market.
Why we have not simply switched. Adopting the inventory figure changes the published carbon intensity on nine Canadian markets at once, which is a reviewed change here rather than an edit, and it is open. Either way nothing moves a tier, score, pillar or outlook: carbon intensity is not an input to the PGIQ Rating.
Boundary: operational combustion, CO2-equivalent, per kWh delivered to the grid. Main activity producers only. ECCC National Inventory Report, Annex 7 →