Toronto, ON – The Ontario Energy Board (OEB) announced today it is holding the line on the prices most Ontario households and small business customers pay for electricity.
The decision means that commodity prices, shown in the electricity line of your bill as Time-of-Use (TOU) pricing, will remain unchanged for residential and small business customers on the Regulated Price Plan (RPP) through April 30, 2017.
The OEB reviews these prices every six months – on May 1 and Nov. 1 – and forecasts how much it will cost to supply consumers with electricity. Based on the forecast, prices are established to recover actual costs over time.
In this case, the OEB’s review determined the prices that customers have been paying since May 1, 2016 will be effective at recovering forecast costs for at least the next six months. Prices for customers who pay RPP tiered prices will likewise stay the same.
About Time-of-Use Rates
Nearly all of Ontario’s five million residential and small business customers pay electricity prices established through the Regulated Price Plan (RPP). Reviewing and setting prices every six months protects consumers from fluctuating commodity prices and provides stability and predictability on the electricity line of their bills. It also ensures supply costs are fully recovered so that the system continues to operate effectively.
While the OEB is holding the line on TOU prices until at least April 30, 2017, consumers are reminded that on-peak times are changing and they can realize savings by adjusting their conservation habits accordingly. Winter TOU hours, shown in the chart below, come into effect on Nov. 1, 2016. For customers who still pay tiered RPP prices, the Tier 1 threshold increases from 600 kWh to 1,000 kWh for the winter. The threshold for small businesses stays at 750 kWh/month all year.
|
Category |
Time(s) – Winter (Nov 1 – Apr 30) |
Price |
Change |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Off-peak |
Weekends from 7pm – 7am |
8.7¢/kWh |
No change |
|
Mid-peak |
Weekdays 11am – 5pm |
13.2¢/kWh |
No change |
|
On-peak |
Weekdays 7am - 11am and 5pm – 7pm |
18.0¢/kWh |
No change |
Off-peak pricing is less than half the cost of on-peak, providing consumers an opportunity to save by shifting their usage to off-peak periods.
TOU prices are based on a 12-month forecast and are set to recover the costs of supplying electricity to consumers. This includes Ontario Power Generation costs regulated by the OEB, which represent about one-third of the cost of electricity supply. It also includes the cost of clean and renewable energy contracts and conservation programs, which are not regulated by the OEB but are required to be recovered through the TOU prices that the OEB sets.
Quote
“The prices set last May are still in line with the updated forecast cost of supply, enabling us to keep time-of-use prices level for the next six months,” says Ceiran Bishop, OEB Manager, Supply and Infrastructure.