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Ontario Energy Board hikes electricity prices for households and small businesses

The OEB says a typical residential bill will increase by about $2.00 a month.
smart-electricity-meter

TORONTO — The Ontario Energy Board is implementing new electricity prices for households and businesses across the province, effective Nov. 1, under the Regulated Price Plan.

Winter time-of-use hours will also take effect on Nov. 1.

In an announcement Tuesday, the OEB said prices will increase by about 1.8 per cent for typical residential customers using 700 kilowatt hour per month.

This equates to about $2.00 per month.

The board said the increase is the result of the following changes:

  • With changes in legislation, prices on the Electricity line of a bill are increasing so that they once again closely reflect the forecast cost of supply. As well, the increase in prices reflects the fact that the forecast cost of supply has gone up relative to what it was on May 1, 2019 due in part to refurbishment of nuclear facilities and new generation facilities coming online
  • The Ontario government has introduced an expanded rebate (the Ontario Electricity Rebate) providing bill relief that will be applied to customer bills, largely offsetting the price changes on the Electricity line

The OEB also released a table showing the new time-of-use  prices taking effect on Nov. 1.  Note that the November 1 price changes shown in the table do not reflect the new bill relief from the province.

TOU price periods
May 1, 2019
TOU prices
including old bill
relief
November 1, 2019
TOU prices
excluding new bill
relief
Off-Peak (Weekdays 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., all
day weekends and holidays)
6.5 ¢/kWh
10.1 ¢/kWh
Mid-Peak (Weekdays 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.)
9.4 ¢/kWh
14.4 ¢/kWh
On-Peak (Weekdays 7 a.m. to 11 a.m.
and 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.)
13.4 ¢/kWh
20.8 ¢/kWh

The total bill impact for individual customers across the province may vary, depending on the customer's electricity useage and the utility they purchase it from.

A spokesperson for Synergy North, which serves Thunder Bay and Kenora, said the increase, which is about the rate of inflation, will apply to all rate classes.

She said Synergy North has not yet received the specifics of the new provincial rebate program, which will mitigate the price hike.

The OEB plans to resume reviewing prices each spring and fall, and said it will reset them "as required" to recover the anticipated cost of supply.




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