Manitoba Hydro was awarded a rate increase yesterday, which goes into effect today.

The Manitoba Public Utilities Board (PUB) awarded Manitoba Hydro a 3.36 percent rate increase, which starts today. 

Hydro, however, had requested a 7.9 percent increase this month, with a further 7.9 percent increase in April 2018.

"Our business is subject to a great deal of volatility in terms of water flows, which are extremely hard to predict and can have a very major and rapid impact on our revenues," said Kevin Shepherd, the president and CEO of Manitoba Hydro in a release. "It's imperative we increase our financial capacity to fund our ongoing operations."

Manitoba Hydro is currently $16 billion in debt and it's expected to grow by $8 billion over the next five years.