Electricity bills are going up for households and small businesses across Ontario.
New rates have been set by the Ontario Energy Board starting on November 1.
The total bill for a typical residential customer who uses 700 kilowatt per hour will increase by about $2.24 or 1.97% each month.
The hike relates to the rate of inflation and impacts those under the Regulated Price Plan.
Customers paying Time-of-Use rates under the RPP will also have the option to switch to tiered rate pricing.
Time-of-use electricity rates vary by time of day and are comprised of three different rate periods of off-peak, mid-peak and on-peak pricing.
Tiered electricity rates provide customers with a set rate for electricity up to a certain level of consumption.
Premier Doug Ford admits he hates the increase.
Ford says the province inherited a major mess with the energy file and stresses they continue to chip away at it.
He notes the government is subsidizing the portfolio to the tune of $5.6 billion.
Ford stresses they are taking action.
“Scrapping the Green Energy Act and that’s the root cause for all of these prices that we’re facing with hydro. As I talked to one of the hydro experts, they said if we didn’t take office, the hydro rates would be in excess of 19%-20% higher.”
Ford says they are still working at lowering costs for households and businesses.
He notes Energy Minister Greg Rickford is working on a plan to be more competitive.
Rate Chart Effective November 1:
Winter Time-Of-Use Price Periods
Off-Peak
Weekdays 7 p.m. – 7 a.m., all day weekends and holidays. 10.5 ¢/kWh
Mid-Peak
Weekdays 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. 15.0 ¢/kWh
On-Peak
Weekdays 7 a.m. – 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.– 7 p.m. 21.7 ¢/kWh
The table below shows the new prices for customers paying Tiered prices:
Winter Tier Thresholds 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
