VANCOUVER, BC, March 21, 2025 /CNW/ – More than 20 per cent of households in Canada earning less than $55,000 experience energy poverty, meaning they spend ten per cent or more of their household budget for electricity, home heating fuel and gasoline, finds a new report published today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.
“Many Canadian households are spending a significant portion of their budgets on energy, when Canada should have among the most affordable energy in the world,” said Elmira Aliakbari, director of energy policy studies at the Fraser Institute and co-author of Energy Costs and Canadian Households: How Much Are We Spending, 2025 edition.
The study finds that nationwide, Atlantic Canadians have the highest rates of energy poverty at 24.6 per cent in 2021 (the most recent year of available data). The national average is 11.0 per cent for all households.
The lowest rate of energy poverty is in British Columbia at 8.1 per cent, followed by Ontario (9.0), Alberta (9.8), Manitoba (11.2), Quebec (11.9) and Saskatchewan (13.9).
Crucially, energy poverty disproportionately affects lower income Canadians. Among households with an income less than $31,200, 22.1 per cent are classified as energy poor, spending ten per cent or more of their household budget for electricity, home heating fuel and gasoline. For households with incomes between $31,200 and $55,000, it’s 20.7 per cent.
By contrast, just 1.6 per cent of households earning over $124,100 are considered energy poor.
“Policies that increase the price of oil, gas and electricity will force more Canadian households into energy poverty, and intensify the financial strain on already vulnerable households,” Aliakbari said.
Incidence of energy poverty by income group in 2021 (percent of households)
| $31,200 or less | 22.1 % |
| $31,200.01-$55,000 | 20.7 % |
| $55,000.01 – $83,800 | 13.1 % |
| $83,800.01 – $124,100 | 6.7 % |
| More than $124,100 | 1.6 % |
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The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax and ties to a global network of think-tanks in 87 countries. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for Canadians, their families and future generations by studying, measuring and broadly communicating the effects of government policies, entrepreneurship and choice on their well-being. To protect the Institute’s independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visit www.fraserinstitute.org
SOURCE The Fraser Institute