Brandon Electricity Retailers and Natural Gas Providers
The entirety of the businesses and homeowners in Brandon are supplied with their electricity by Manitoba Hydro, the provincial electric utility. Because of Manitoba’s current market regulations, residents of Brandon do not have the option to purchase electricity from a third-party electricity retailer.
However, while Manitoba Hydro is also the regulated natural gas supplier in the province, residents and business owners can contract with retail natural gas suppliers, potentially lowering natural gas costs by a significant amount.
Currently, retailers of natural gas serving customers in Brandon include:
Depending on the season and current market conditions, offerings and the availability of services may vary. Natural gas plans may include options such as fixed rates, variable rates, monthly fixed price plans, and combinations thereof. To see and compare the options currently available to residents of Brandon, fill out the rate comparison form above.
Brandon Electricity and Natural Gas History
The founding of Brandon was a quirk of fate. In the 1870s, settlers closely watched the development of the transcontinental railway that would one day span the entirety of Canada. Territories where the tracks were laid down would have ready access to transportation and supplies, the fuel necessary to turn a shanty into a city.
Many anticipated that the railway would run through either (what are now) Rapid City or Minnedosa. But the railway’s engineers had a last-minute change of heart, and shifted the route to run through Grand Valley. Settlers quickly changed plans and converged on the location, with the first arriving in 1879. In 1881, Thomas Rosser, the chief engineer of the Canadian Pacific Railway arrived in the area to make the final determination of where the tracks would run, as well as the location of the townsite that would spring up alongside it. Ultimately, Rosser chose a site south of the Assiniboine River, and dubbed the area Brandon. Within a year, so many people had moved there that Brandon was incorporated as a city in May of 1882, without having been recognized as a town or village previously.
In 1888, the Brandon Electric Light Company was founded, and construction of a steam generating station was completed the next year. Access to electricity helped to fuel the economy further, and the city grew from 700 to more than 5,000 people by 1891. In 1900, the first hydroelectric generating plant in Manitoba was built by the Brandon Electric Light Company on the Little Saskatchewan River. The plant provided electricity to the city’s residents, located 14 kilometers to the east, via an 11,000-volt line.
In 1907, the Brandon Gas & Power Company was incorporated. In 1921, the company merged with the Brandon Electric Light Company to form the Canada Gas & Electric Corporation of Brandon, with the new company continuing to supply the residents of Brandon with electricity and natural gas. However, this came to an end when the Manitoba Power Commission (MPC)—the provincial company charged with providing power to communities outside of Winnipeg—purchased the company in 1931. By 1933, municipal contracts with Brandon and other cities were canceled, with MPC serving homeowners and businesses directly, rather than having municipal utilities acting as a middleman.
In 1961, MPC merged with the Manitoba Hydro Electric Board to form Manitoba Hydro, which still continues to be the sole supplier of electricity in Brandon, as well as the regulated rate provider of natural gas.
What About Water?
The City of Brandon owns and operates a public water supply system to supply potable water to its residential, institutional, businesses, industrial and commercial customers. The facility is regulated by Manitoba Water Stewardship to produce potable water under the new Drinking Water Safety Act, which determines drinking water standards.
In 2024, The City announced a partnership with Fusion Credit Union, the Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB), and the Province of Manitoba, to support growth, provide clean drinking water to the equivalent of 47,000 households, and expand its water and wastewater infrastructure. An infrastructure which remain publicly procured, owned and operated by the City of Brandon.
According to CIB, water infrastructure upgrades include a new membrane treatment, intake, yard piping; a settling pond to address flooding and drought concerns ensuring continued access to source water; and new wastewater lift stations, gravity trunk sewer, force main, and upgrades to the South End lift station. The initiative also increases the capacity for water treatment at the City of Brandon’s facility and supports residential and commercial growth in southwest Brandon.
Regarding water bills, the City of Brandon explains that bills water on actual consumption, as every month the meters are read by radio frequency from the street outside your home or business, and highlight also that the most common issue for an increased water billing is a leaking toilet tank. The tip is also verifying if there were water consumption changes.
How to set up a water supply
On the City of Brandon website, it is possible to update a mailing address or email address, notify the water billing department about a move in or out, add or remove the homeowner’s affordability tax credit (HATC), cancel automatic payments, change banking Information, applying for water billing payment plan or electronic invoicing. However, it is also possible to solve issues in person.
Customer Information
- Customer Care Phone: 204.729.2186
- Website: City of Brandon
- Address: 410 9th Street – Brandon, MB R7A 6A2 (From Mon to Friday 8:30am to 5pm. Sat and Sun: Closed)
