Manitoba to use data centre, crypto levy to cut hydro bills

Manitoba will return revenue from a levy on cryptocurrency operations and large AI data centres to residential Manitoba Hydro customers, saving households roughly $50 a year, Finance Minister Adrien Sala said.

The government announced the measure in a news release on Oct. 15, when it introduced the Budget Implementation and Tax Statutes Amendment Act, known as BITSA 2. Bills would be lowered monthly beginning early in the new year, the release said.

“Our government is focused on making life more affordable for Manitobans, and that includes keeping hydro rates as low as possible for families,” Sala said. “Large cryptocurrency operations and AI data centres use significant amounts of electricity, and they should contribute fairly to the system we all rely on.”

The release did not give a revenue estimate. BetaKit reported on Oct. 19 that the government expects the levy to bring in as much as $20 million, and that it includes 100 per cent markups on electricity used by crypto operations and data centres drawing more than five megawatts. Those figures were not in the government release, so they should be treated as BetaKit’s reporting.

The two accounts also differ on the levy’s history. BetaKit said the levy was passed into law last summer, while the government release describes it as a new levy and says the legislation was introduced Oct. 15. The same bill would also restore the Workers Compensation Board to the province’s summary financial reporting.

BetaKit reported that the levy is aimed at large AI data centres, but that Manitoba has no data centre big enough to meet the threshold. The only proposed project that would qualify is a 5.5-megawatt facility near Rosser, Man., it said. That means the revenue would come almost entirely from cryptocurrency mining. The crypto industry argued earlier this year that the legislation would effectively shut down Manitoba’s sector, BetaKit reported.

The approach sets Manitoba apart from other Prairie provinces, which have courted large data centre projects. Alberta’s grid operator has proposed limiting data centre grid hookups to gas power, and in Nova Scotia the opposition NDP has called for the legislature to be recalled over an AI data centre. Anthropic has signed a lease for a $10-billion Cape Breton data centre, and Ottawa is weighing a federal data centre for the Communications Security Establishment.

For Manitoba ratepayers, the practical effect depends on how much the levy actually raises. At $50 a household, the savings are modest, and the amount will hinge on whether any qualifying operators remain in the province once the levy is in force.

The bill still has to pass the legislature before the changes take effect.

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Sources: Manitoba government news release, Oct. 15, 2026; BetaKit, Oct. 19, 2026.