Residential customers not in fixed price contracts are on the Regulated Price Plan (RPP):
Most Ontario homes now have a Smart Meter and pay Time of Use (TOU) rates:
Smart Meter ¢ / kWh |
||
---|---|---|
On-Peak | Mid-Peak | Off-Peak |
18.2 | 12.2 | 8.7 |
Residential and Small Business customers can submit a request to switch from Time-of-Use to Tiered Pricing for electricity usage. Use the Ontario Energy Board bill calculator to see what your total bill would look like with Time-of-Use and Tiered prices
Regular Meter ¢ / kWh |
||
---|---|---|
10.3 | up to 750 kWh/month for Residential and 600 kWh/month for non Residential then | 12.5 |
ULO Prices:
Smart Meter ¢ / kWh |
|||
---|---|---|---|
On-Peak | Mid-Peak | Weekend Off-Peak | Overnight |
28.6 | 12.2 | 8.7 | 2.8 |
These prices are set for 6 month periods, May 1st and November 1st, but if the utility has to pay more or less for electricity, the difference will be built into the next price change through the RPP Variance Settlement. The RPP includes the Global Adjustment.
Make sure you read the contracts, in particular the Price clause. There are two types of offers:
The term "green power" refers to electricity created from renewable sources, such as solar, wind, geothermal, some hydropower, and biomass. "Brown power" refers to power generated using traditional fossil fuels and nuclear energy.
Cost Component | Example Charge | Reason for the Cost |
---|---|---|
Customer Charge | $7 - 20 / month | The fixed monthly cost of having basic service from the utility |
Distribution Charge | 1.4¢ / kWh | Construction and maintenance of the local system |
Transmission Charge | 1.0¢ / kWh | Getting the electricity from the generating station to your utility |
System Operation and Regulation | 0.6¢ / kWh | The organizations that oversee electricity (OEB / IESO) |
Energy Charge (commodity) | 10.5 to 21.7 ¢ / kWh | The electricity itself. This chart shows a the range of the RPP - Regulated Price Plan. It includes the Global Adjustment. |
Global Adjustment (formerly called Provincial Benefit) | ? / kWh | If you opt for a contract, this will be an additional line item. If you stay on the regulated price plan it's included in the commodity rate. It covers contracts signed by the government for generation and wind and solar projects. |
Marketer prices only cover the electricity supply cost. The other charges, Transmission, Debt Retirement, System Operation and Global Adjustment, will be charged by your utility at the regulated rate regardless of who you choose as your electricity supplier.
It's very difficult for several reasons. If you stay with your utility, you will pay the average spot market price over the first year, based on the Net System Load Shape (NSLS) for your utility. The NSLS is the profile (hourly use through the year) of the total of all electricity users in your utility purchasing from the utility, who do not have an interval meter. The spot market changes every hour. That has to be compared to a fixed rate, fixed term contract.
You have 2 fundamental choices; to stay with the utility and pay a variable rate, or go with a deregulated energy marketer. You'll see fixed or variable contracts, terms between 1 and 5 years and possibly other incentives such as air miles or a free month of electricity. This decision depends on your budget, and whether you expect electricity prices to go up or down.
In Ontario, the Ontario Energy Board regulates utility rates. Utilities can't offer fixed contracts; only marketers can. The utility will charge a set rate for a 6 month period, a rate called the Regulated Price Plan RPP. As a residential consumer you can opt out of the RPP and pay the monthly spot price instead. Or you can sign a longer term contract with a marketer. The reason you would sign a contract would be to avoid regulated rate changes in the future.
If you sign an electricity contract in Ontario you will be subject to RPP Settlement. The regulated price plan, which you were on, is mean to smooth out the volatile market rates by setting the price for 6 months. However, if market prices are higher (or lower) than the RPP rate a variance account accumulates. When you leave the RPP for a contract, you will be charge for, or credited with, your portion of that account.
The Ontario Energy Board offer programs to help low-income customers with their electricity bills. One of them is the Ontario Electricity Support Program (OESP). It provides monthly on-bill credits for low-income customers to reduce their electricity bills:
https://www.oeb.ca/rates-and-your-bill/help-low-income-consumers/ontario-electricity-support-program
An explanation of retail energy contracts | Deregulated electricity market info |
www.energyshop.com provides unbiased natural gas price and electricity cost comparisons. This is valuable information and education for home and commercial, house and business. It's insurance against paying too much on current utility rates. We have historical data, supplier information, home heating calculations, natural gas price charts, maps to help you find your utility area, links to solar energy, green power and wind power sites.
There are many suppliers with consumer energy rates, natural gas prices and electricity costs in Canada including Direct Energy, Just Energy, OESC (Ontario Energy Savings Corp), AESC, Superior (SEM), Epcor, Enmax, Constellation NewEnergy (CNE), CEG, BCESC, Universal Energy and RiteRate, Transalta. This information on electricity suppliers and open market rates is valid for Ontario, Alberta, Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and BC (British Columbia). It covers gas distributed by Enbridge, Union, Kitchener utilities, Kingston, ATCO, Direct Energy Regulated Services, Teresen, Epcor, ENMAX, Altagas and GazMet. Canadian natural gas prices are available for deregulated provinces.
Some US states are deregulated and several have quite active markets. Georgia, Texas, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Ohio are active in 2007 and have the longest history. The most active marketers in Georgia are MX Energy, Georgia Natural Gas, Coweta-Fayette EMC, Gas South, GasKey, Infinite Energy, SCANA, Vectren and Walton EMC.
This price comparison search helps you find the cheapest electricity and cheapest natural gas among Canadian energy companies. While energy price information does not have the sex appeal of TV and electronics, it actually saves you much more money in your personal budget. If you sign a contract for 1 cent less per m³ (which is 27 cents/GJ), you will save about $30 per year. The difference between the highest and lowest price in Ontario is usually 5 cents, so signing with the lowest cost provider will save you $150 per year. Think about this when the door to door marketers and telemarketers talk to you.
We also provide educational information and links on such issues as Nox and Sox and CO2 reduction (Nitrous Oxide and Sulphur Dioxide and Carbon Dioxide). We are a consumer report on the energy industry. Real estate professionals like the information we provide on utility bills, cost history, on heating system conversion costs, and energy price forecasts to help their clients manage expenses and cost of living.
Links to the Hourly Ontario Energy Price HOEP are also available to guage the Ontario power industry. The HOEP is also referred to as the spot market for electricity, and the open market rate. We are working on links to the Alberta electricity power pool
Business customers have many more options for buying natural gas and electricity. They can buy full requirements gas contracts with all of the delivery and compressor fuel charges added, or they can buy naked price contracts based on NYMEX quotes, and pay all of the other charges quoted separately. Electricity can be either a fixed price for every kWh used regardless of timing, or a business can buy a block of electricity to best match their time of use. Business customers can buy from companies such as Coral (Shell Trading), Sempra, CNE, Direct Energy,