This country lifted the mining ban: cheap electricity supply restored! Miners are ecstatic!

On Thursday, people familiar with the matter revealed that the Quebec government in Canada will lift the ban on selling electricity to cryptocurrency miners. According to local media reports, the Quebec government will lift the ban because it does not want to miss out on the cryptocurrency industry.

In March of this year, the Quebec provincial government expressed no interest in providing cheap electricity to Bitcoin miners, saying that supporting mining would not generate any added value to the local economy and would instead be counterproductive.

Given the high power consumption of mining activities, local Energy Minister Pierre Moreau is preparing to issue a decree to regulate the power consumption of miners. In February this year, Moreau said he wanted to ensure that the industry was under control to prevent the Quebec Hydro Corporation from running out of capacity.

The decree will reportedly set multi-tiered electricity rates for digital currency miners and allow energy companies to conduct “forced disconnections.”

This means that if Hydro-Quebec's grid reaches peak capacity, the company can cut off power to miners for 100 to 300 hours a year.

Marc-Antoine Pouliot, a spokesman for the company, said:

“The forced power cuts during critical periods are intended to allow more users to connect to the grid. What we need to do is to ensure the operation of the cryptocurrency industry while maximizing economic benefits and ensuring a stable power supply.”

Hydro-Quebec had no idea that the cryptocurrency industry would have such high electricity demand, and its CEO Eric Martel said in January that they would provide 5 terawatt hours (TWH) of electricity to miners in the next few years.