Energetic electron precipitation at middle latitudes is at times intense enough to contribute significantly to the ionization of the ionospheric D region. The observed fluxes are often latitude dependent. This L-dependent precipitation may give rise to a latitude variation in the free electron density at D region heights. Specifically, low-altitude satellite measurements show that the electron environment on L shells which connect to the atmosphere at D regio heights above the ionospheric research stations operated by the Ionosphere Research Laboratory at University Park, Pennsylvania, and the Communications Research Centre at Ottawa, Canada, may be very different. Although the present study is not very extensive and does not cover all seasons, it shows that for a number of cases, precipitating electrons were observed over Ottawa but not over University Park. The resulting difference in D region ionization rates due to the additional ionization source at Ottawa may be important in light of the apparent conflict between D region density profiles derived at the two stations. Owing to lack of relevant information, it was assumed in an earlier intercomparison of electron density profiles measured simultaneously at University Park and Ottawa that no such difference existed. Our data show that it may be important to have simultaneous knowledge also of the electron precipitation versus latitude in order to resolve questions relating to the accuracy of the wave interaction and partial reflection techniques used at the University Park and Ottawa sites, respectively, for obtaining the electron density profile.