Hydro rates on the way up
The Ontario Energy Board has announced new electricity prices for households and small businesses, effective November 1st.
The total bill for a typical residential customer who uses 700 kWh per month will increase by about $2.24 or 1.97 percent.
Since the start of the pandemic we have been paying a flat rate, but we will now be given an option of returning to a time of use pricing system or a tiered pricing system that bills users at a lower rate for the first 1,000 kilowatt hours and rises after that.
In a release, the OEB says there are a number of programs in place to support electricity customers at this time, through the COVID-19 Energy Assistance Program and COVID-19 Energy Assistance Program for Small Business.
In addition, the OEB has called on electricity distributors to focus efforts on promoting solutions for customers that have arrears and increasing awareness of support that may be available to customers.
Here are the pricing options:
Winter Tier Thresholds | November 1, 2020 Tiered Prices | |
Tier 1 | Residential – first 1,000 kWh/month Non-residential – first 750 kWh/month | 12.6 ¢/kWh |
Tier 2 | Residential – for electricity used above 1,000 kWh/month Non-residential – for electricity used above 750 kWh/month | 14.6 ¢/kWh |
Winter TOU Price Periods | November 1, 2020 TOU Prices |
Off-Peak | 10.5 ¢/kWh |
Mid-Peak | 15.0 ¢/kWh |
On-Peak | 21.7 ¢/kWh |