George Vegh
Biography
Energy Regulation & Governance Advisor | Former Chair, Canada Energy Regulator
George Vegh advises governments, regulators, boards, and investors on high-stakes energy and infrastructure decisions, particularly where regulatory independence, political pressure, and institutional design intersect.
He is the former Chair of the Canada Energy Regulator, where he led Canada’s national energy regulator during a period of heightened scrutiny driven by the energy transition, Indigenous reconciliation, and expanding regulatory mandates. His responsibilities included institutional governance, regulatory decision-making, and stewardship of regulatory credibility in contested environments.
George previously served as General Counsel of the Ontario Energy Board and practiced energy regulatory law for more than two decades, including as co-leader of a national energy regulatory practice. His experience spans electricity and natural gas markets, infrastructure development, and regulatory reform.
He is a Senior Fellow at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. He is widely published and frequently called upon to provide expert testimony and international advisory support on regulatory reform.
Focus areas
- Regulatory governance and independence
- Energy market design and oversight
- Institutional and mandate reform
- Energy transition and net-zero regulation
Board-level decision-making under political pressure
Updated Feb 2026
- Institute of Corporate Directors–Rotman, Directors Education Program (2022); Crown Director Effectiveness (2023)
- LL.M., Osgoode Hall Law School (1997)
- LL.B., University of Toronto (1990)
Select publications
Energy Governance and Regulatory Independence
- Summit on the Future of Energy Security: Innovation, Affordability, and the 2030 Energy Challenge, Atlantic Council (2025).
- Is the Era of Independent Economic Energy Regulation Over? (Northwinds, 2025).
- Electricity Procurements in Ontario: Time for a New Approach, Ontario 360 (February, 2020).
- Cap and Trade and Governance: Ontario energy agency could correct province's past policy mistakes, May, 2016 (Globe and Mail).
- Investigating Energy Market Activity in Ontario (Global Competition Review, 2018).
- Energy Governance in Ontario, A Report to the Ontario Energy Association and the Association of Power Producers of Ontario (November,2017).
- How Ontario can End the Cycle of Meddling in Electricity Markets, April,,2017 (Globe and Mail).
- “A Watch Dog’s Limits” Editorial, Globe & Mail, January, 2008.
- Advocacy Centre for Tenants – Ontario v. Ontario Energy Board: Public Utility Rate-Rate-Making: Economic Regulation or Taxation? Case Comment: (2008), 87 Can. Bar Review, 549.
- “Is there a Doctrine of Canadian Public Utility Law?” (2007), 86 Can. Bar Rev. 319
Energy Markets and Market Design
- Hot Planet, Smart Tech – Is AI a tool or a threat to Climate Action, Munk School Environmental Working Group (2025).
- Interprovincial Trade in Electricity, Ontario – Quebec Parliamentary Association (2025).
- The Energy Transition: New Approaches to Regulation (Public Policy Forum, Regulators Dialogue, November,, 2022).
- Energy Regulation and Net zero (Public Policy Forum, September, 2022).
- Electrification: The Collaborative Future of Energy (June, 2022).
- Establishing Evidence-Based Analysis of Ontario’s Energy Procurement, Ontario 360 (April, 2018)
- Report to the Chair of the Ontario Energy Board, Advisory Committee on Innovation (December, 2018)
- “How Energy Institutions Set the Price for Electricity,” in Doug Reeve, Donald Dewees & Bryan Karney, Current Affairs – Perspectives on Electricity Policy for Ontario (University of Toronto Press, 2010)
- The Green Energy and Economy Act: Green Energy Unbounded, University of Toronto Law Faculty Blog (February 25, 2009)
Public Law and Institutions
- Towards the Creation of an Indigenous Energy Regulator, TMX Annual Line Wide Meeting of the Indigenous Advisory Monitoring Committee (2025).
- Emerging Frameworks for Energy Regulation (Chautauqua, New York, 2024).
- How to Improve Ontario Energy Forecasting, Ontario 360 (October, 2021).
- Expert Testimony to Ontario Legislative Assembly Committee on Energy sector Governance under Bill 87 (April, 2019).
- Investigating Energy Market Activity in Ontario, in The Guide to Energy Market Manipulation (Global Competition Review) (February, 2018).
- “The Characterization of Barriers to Interprovincial Trade under the Canadian Constitution,” (1996), 34 Osgoode Hall Law Journal 355;
- Student Companion to Administrative Law (Toronto: Butterworths, 1996).
- The Separation of Quebec and the Constitution of Canada (Toronto: York University Centre for Public Law and Public Policy, 1992) (co-authored with Neil Finkelstein)
- Making the Law: The Courts and the Constitution (Toronto: Copp Clark Pitman, 1991) (co-authored with John T. Saywell).
(Full publication list available on request.)
Awards & recognition
- Consistently ranked as a leading lawyer in his field by Chambers, Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, International Financial Law Review, American Lawyer, Lexpert, and the Legal 500
- Leadership roles on the OEB Chair’s Committee on Innovation, and the IESO Electricity Market Forum
- Expert testimony to committees of the Ontario Legislative Assembly
- Advised on regulatory structural reform in Kenya, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand
- Chair of the Ontario Energy Association, Vice-Chair of the Association of Power Producers of Ontario
- Leading industry task forces on Distribution Rate Regulation; Infrastructure Renewal; Distributed Generation; and Transmission Connection for Renewable Generation