ONTARIO NEWS

Toronto: The Ontario Energy Board set new, lower electricity prices April 20 for households and small businesses that buy their electricity from their local utility. The new prices went into effect May 1. The rates applied to over 90% of the electricity customers in Ontario.

          Starting in May 2017, the total bill for a typical residential customer who uses 750 kWh per month will be about $127, which is about $26 or 17% lower than it would have been without the following rate mitigation:

• The 8% rebate, equivalent to the provincial portion of the HST, that has been in place since January 1, 2017;

• The OEB’s decision to remove the charge that funds the cost of the Ontario Electricity Support Program (OESP), effective May 1, 2017. The OESP will continue to be available to help eligible low-income customers reduce their electricity bills; and

• A portion of the bill reduction announced in the government’s proposed Ontario Fair Hydro Plan.

          The table below shows three sets of prices: the existing time-of-use (TOU) prices for RPP customers; what those TOU prices would have been on May 1, 2017 without consideration of the proposed Fair Hydro Plan; and the TOU prices as set by the OEB to start on May 1, 2017, which take into account a portion of the bill reduction announced in the proposed Fair Hydro Plan. The table shows the same sets of prices for RPP customers who pay tiered prices.

          The government has introduced legislation that, if passed, would implement the proposed Fair Hydro Plan starting this summer. The OEB will then further adjust RPP prices as needed so that RPP customers receive the full rate relief as legislated.

          For more information on how the OEB established the TOU and tiered RPP prices that come into effect on May 1, see the OEB Backgrounder.