Ontario Threatened To Cut The Power. Now It's Buying It.

Key points

• Ontario's grid operator has contracted 600 megawatts of firm capacity from a United States generator for six months, starting November 1, 2026.
• The supplier is Alpha Generation, whose fleet includes the oil-fired Oswego Harbor Power station on the New York side of Lake Ontario.
• Ontario Power Generation took the last of Pickering's four B-side reactors offline on September 30, removing about 2,060 megawatts of nuclear output ahead of refurbishment.
• In August, Premier Doug Ford had again said he was willing to cut electricity exports to the United States.

The Independent Electricity System Operator, the provincial agency that runs Ontario's grid, has secured 600 megawatts of firm capacity from a United States generator for the six months beginning November 1, 2026. Alpha Generation, which is owned by funds managed by ArcLight Capital Partners, will supply it. The company's fleet of 26 plants across six states includes Oswego Harbor Power, an oil-fired station on the south shore of Lake Ontario, roughly across the water from the reactors the province has just switched off.

The IESO describes the contract as routine. "Ontario's electricity system remains reliable, and securing additional short-term capacity provides greater flexibility," spokesperson Michael Dodsworth said, framing the purchase as part of normal planning for system-wide maintenance and winter peak demand.

What came offline

The maintenance is specific. Ontario Power Generation took Pickering Unit 6 offline on September 30, 2026, the last of four units powered down that month. Units 5 through 8 are each rated at 516 megawatts, so roughly 2,060 megawatts of emissions-free generation left the grid in a matter of days.

Refurbishment is scheduled to begin in early 2027, with Unit 5 the first back in service in 2031 and the full four-unit programme expected to finish by 2034. The 600 megawatts now being bought from New York covers under a third of what came off.

The export position it reverses

Ontario is not short of power in the ordinary course. It is one of the largest electricity exporters on the continent, and New York is its biggest customer.

That flow is what Ford has twice offered to interrupt. On March 10, 2025, at the request of the Minister of Energy and Electrification, the IESO applied what it called a tariff response charge of $10 per megawatt-hour, which it put at "approximately 25 per cent," to all electricity exports from Ontario to United States jurisdictions. The charge was suspended the following day.

In August 2026, with tariffs again rising, Ford returned to the subject: "We power 1.5 million homes and businesses. Everything's on the table. I'll do whatever it takes."

On November 1 the province becomes a buyer, and the power is coming from a privately held American generator burning oil.

Sources: Independent Electricity System Operator, Imports and Exports (2025 trade data) and its March 2025 notices on the tariff response charge; Ontario Power Generation on the Pickering refurbishment and the September 30 shutdown; Alpha Generation company disclosures on the Oswego Harbor Power station.

Track real-time insider activity across the energy sector on the Insider Screener, or see the full dataset with Insider Premium.