Time-of-use begins this week or next: Thunder Bay Hydro

Cooking breakfast and supper are going to get more expensive as winter hits Thunder Bay.

Thunder Bay Hydro officials confirmed on Wednesday that the controversial time-of-use electricity rates are kicking in either later this week or early next week.

For consumers it means consumers can expect the highest rates on Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. and again during the dinner hours between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. Off peak hours, when power will be the least expensive, will last from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., with mid-peak hours scheduled between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.

During the summer months, between May 1 and Oct. 31, the on-peak hours and mid-peak hours are reversed. Winter rates kick in on Nov. 1. Weekends and holidays are considered off peak times throughout the year.

Tim Wilson, the vice-president of customer service and conservation at the publicly owned utility, said the corporation is in the final stages of preparation to launch time-of-use rates.

“We’ve started to link up with the provincial date repository company down in southern Ontario . So we’re very close to starting to push people onto the time-of-use rate structure,” Wilson said. “That’ll probably start taking place in the next couple of weeks.”

“Residential customers won’t start to see bills for a couple of months after that. The small commercial customers, in about six week’s time they’ll start getting their first time-of-use rate bill.”

Over the past couple of years, all residential homes and small businesses had Smart Meters installed in Thunder Bay, mirroring similar efforts across the province.

The new rate structure, which the utility says will allow customers to more closely monitor their electricity usage, was supposed to go into effect in June, but Thunder Bay Hydro successfully asked for a later implementation date.

According to the Independent Electricity System Operator, the organization that monitors power use in Ontario, electricity will cost consumers 10.7 cents a kilowatt hour during on peak times. During mid-peak times it costs 8.9 cents a kilowatt hour, while in off-peak hours electricity costs just 5.9 cents a kilowatt hour.

Prices are reviewed every six months, with any changes being instituted on May 1 and Nov. 1.

Hydro officials, in a release issued on Wednesday, said peak time is more expensive because higher demand sets higher market prices, it’s harder on the environment because in order to meet demand, less attractive producers, like coal generation, must be used.

Within the next 15 years the province is expected to replace up to 80 per cent of the its electricity system, and by shifting consumer habits to off-peak times, the belief is it may lessen the need for peak generating facilities.

“The big question that most people in the media have, and customers, is how is this going to affect me?’ Wilson said. “Our answer is we don’t know how it’s going to affect you, because each person responds differently to price, not unlike gasoline prices.

“Some people will claw back on the amount of driving they do; others don’t because they simply won’t care. It won’t be a big enough price hit for them to worry about.”

Wilson said consumers can expect a message in their upcoming bill letting them know time-of-use is now in effect.
“That messaging will start in the next couple of weeks,” he said.