Alberta Power Market Snapshot: May 2026
We anticipated a high number of zero-dollar hours in May, as we outlined in our April blog, but nothing quite prepared us for what actually transpired. Wholesale hourly prices hit zero over 20% of the time. May was astonishing in more ways than one.
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The Data
As usual, let's start with a high-level perspective. Looking at the monthly price heatmap, we can clearly see the long and short streaks of zero in black, alongside a few high price spikes:
Heat Map of May 2026 hourly Alberta power pool prices
Black: zero dollar hour - “Excess Supply”
Light Grey: CAD 0.01 - 20/MWh - “Insufficient”
Green: CAD 20.01 - 60/MWh - “Marginal”
Cyan: CAD 60.01 - 150/MWh - “Full-cycle”
Purple: CAD 150.01 - 800/MWh - “Expensive”
Red: CAD 800.01 - 999.99/MWh - “Peak”
When we average these hourly prices, we arrive at CAD 42.98/MWh. If that average were the only metric we evaluated, May would appear quite typical compared to the last two decades. It sits on the lower end—especially since these figures are not inflation-adjusted—but it is hardly abnormal.
May average Alberta electricity pool prices, 2005-2026 (CAD/MWh)
Prices are not inflation-adjusted
However, once we look at the average of the daily lowest-cost 8 hours (our proxy for prices available to dispatchable loads), we hit our first record. At CAD 5.68/MWh, this is not only the lowest figure for May, but for any month since at least 2005.
Daily lowest-cost 8 hours, average for May, 2005-2026 (CAD/MWh)
Prices are not inflation-adjusted
As noted in the introduction, this drop was driven by a record number of hours at the current market price floor of zero—150 hours, or 20.2% of the month:
Monthly zero-dollar hours for May, 2005-2026
We also broke the record for the longest consecutive streak of zero-dollar hours: from May 13 (HE 23) to May 15 (HE 03), prices stayed at the floor for 29 consecutive hours. This eclipsed the prior records of 22 hours in September 2025 and 20 hours in September 2024.
Then, we broke that new record again at the very end of the month. Prices stayed to the floor from midnight on May 31st until 10:00 AM on June 1st for an incredible 34 consecutive hours. Because this streak straddled two calendar months, it technically doesn't count solely for May (of course, in practice, that distinction is irrelevant).
When looking at load, it becomes clear that the root cause of these patterns lies on the generation side, coupled with a lack of storage and export capacity, rather than with weak demand. In fact, Alberta Internal Load (AIL) hit a new record for the month at 9,866 MW, nearly 5% above May of last year:
Avg Alberta Internal Load (AIL) for May, 2005-2026 (MW)
Implications
Since average price levels no longer tell the full story, flexibility is becoming increasingly valuable. Amid high load growth and a rapidly evolving market, now is the right time for industrial power consumers to update their power strategy. The era of "set and forget" is over—at least for players who want to remain competitive and resilient.
Newsletter & Events
If you are interested in exploring these topics further, including implications for industrial power consumers, please sign up for our free Webinar on June 18th and our monthly newsletter. And if you are looking for solid foundational knowledge, our flagship Alberta Power Fundamentals training course returns on October 22nd, and you can benefit from Early Bird Pricing until Stampede. Finally, if you have any questions or would like to discuss implications for your company, please do not hesitate to reach out, we look forward to speaking with you!
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Webinar: 30-minutes covering key market developments and implications for industry, with time for your questions.
Date: June 18th, 11-11.30am MT
Sign up here: https://arder.ca/webinars
Training: Our Alberta Power Fundamentals course features a small, peer-to-peer setting with a full day of in-person instruction at the Petroleum Club preceded by online preparatory modules. Capacity is limited and we expect to sell out early again; early-bird registration is available until Stampede.