The Hydro Quebec Gentilly nuclear power plant near Trois-Rivieres Que., is pictured Tuesday, March 22, 2011.Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press
Hydro-Québec recovered from a weak start to its fiscal year, as higher sales to residential and farm customers increased its second-quarter profit to $452-million – up 20 per cent from a year earlier.
The public utility said Friday its net income for period ended June 30 increased by $76-million from $376-million, reversing a decrease in the first quarter of the year.
Revenue from electricity sales was $2.84-billion, up 6 per cent from $2.69-billion a year earlier.
"We had good results," Lise Croteau, vice-president of accounting, said in a conference call.
"Since the beginning of the year we've had...more demand and more subscribers."
The number of customers has increased by nearly 50,000 resulting in 1.8 terrawatt-hours of increased volume so far this fiscal year.
Sales to customers in Quebec increased to $2.4-billion from $2.3-billion, while sales outside the province decreased 5.2 per cent to $323-million, including financial hedging.
The higher Canadian dollar more than offset the impact of higher volume of exports.
Expenses increased 2.8 per cent to $1.78-billion while financial expenses were up 5.1 per cent to $617-million.
Hydro-Québec's long-term debt was $39.56-billion, up from $36.4-billion on Dec. 31.
For the first half of the fiscal year, Hydro-Québec earned $1.85-billion on $6.7-billion of sales. That compared to $1.81-billion on $6.5-billion a year earlier.
Electricity sales increased because of a 3.7 TWh volume increase resulting from more normal temperatures than the exceptionally mild conditions in 2010.
Exports decreased nearly 19 per cent to $737-million, largely as a result of a 27 per cent decrease in the first quarter.
The average price of electricity exports was 4.6 cents per kilowatt hour in the second quarter and 5.3 cents including hedging for the first half of the year, unchanged from 2010.
"When you compare 2011 with 2010, energy prices are pretty stable," Ms. Croteau added.
Hydro-Québec paid a $1.886-billion annual dividend to the provincial government in March, a 13 per cent decrease from $2.168-billion in the prior period.