What is the purpose of this report?

This discussion paper addresses a significant barrier to innovation in Canada’s gas and electric utility sectors—that current regulatory practices across the provinces and territories were designed for existing and relatively low-risk technologies rather than innovative new technologies and services. The report analyses the current state of energy innovation from this perspective and makes recommendations for how utilities can collaborate on energy innovation, and what new regulatory mechanisms could better incent innovation, which, by its very nature, involves higher risks than the technologies in place today.