Ontario Residents, Small Business Customers Save on Electricity Bill Starting Today

Ontario’s residential and small business customers have got some relief in these times of increasing prices. Ontario Energy Board (OEB) had announced a decrease in the cost of electricity which will be effective starting today, Tuesday, November 1. The prices can drop up to two cents per kilowatt hour (kWh), which may not be that high but brings some relief.

Ontario Energy Board released a statement on October 21 that said that starting November 1, electricity prices for households and small businesses will be lowered under the Regulated Price Plan (RPP). As per the new rates, off-peak hours will be charged at 7.4 ¢/kWh, mid-peak hours will be charged at 10.2 ¢/kWh, and on-peak hours will be charged at 15.1 ¢/kWh.

Joel MacDonald, the founder of Energyrates.ca, says this drop in price is mainly due to changes in the market. He explains that since the peak demand of summer is over now that air conditioning would not be required as much. “So, it would be typical to see a slightly lower rate over the winter than it would over the summer,” he says.

The OEB announced prices for both tiered plans and time-of-use (TOU) will go down and these new prices will last till April next year. TOU plans mean customers are billed according to when they use electricity. On weekdays during peak hours, customers will now pay 15.1 cents per kWh, which is about two cents less than the previous pricing of 17.0 cents per kWh. Similarly, the mid-peak rate has dropped to 10.2 cents per kWh from 11.3. The off-peak rate dropped to 7.4 cents from 8.2 cents per kWh.

Tiered pricing is when customers pay a flat rate for the first 1,000 kWh and then a higher rate if they exceed that number. But, the rates for the tiered pricing have gone down by just over one cent per kWh.

MacDonald also stated that for most customers, tiered plans make more sense. “In order for the time-of-use system to provide cost savings over the tier system — assuming the average household — you would have to use more than 75 percent of your usage in the off-peak period,” he shared. Standard houses have a base load consumption with the appliances running all the time so it is hard to reach that 75 percent number.

He also noted that Ontario residents should take this in stride as other provinces are raising their rates. Residents of Alberta are seeing increases ranging from three cents to 28 cents per kWh.

Vineet Washington