Ontario hydro rates return to normal as Stay at Home orders lifted in most regions

Ontario’s hydro rates return to normal starting Tuesday, February 23, as the Stay at Home orders are lifted in most regions of the province.

When the orders were enacted on January 14, the province reduced hydro rates to help families and businesses.

However, now that the orders are only in place for Toronto, Peel Region, and North Bay Parry Sound for another two weeks, the hydro rates are going back to their normal price starting Tuesday.

Before Time of Use (TOU) prices were capped at off-peak prices which are 8.5 cents per kilowatt-hour for 24 hours a day.

Now, off-peak hours will remain the same, but midweek hours from 11 am to 5 pm will be 11.9 cents per kilowatt-hour, and on-peak hours which is weekdays at 7 am to 11 am and 5 pm to 7 pm will be 17.6 cents per kilowatt-hour.

There are also winter tier thresholds that TOU residents can transfer over to.

Ontario Energy Board

“Last fall, our government introduced customer choice for all Ontario customers; we encourage customers who continue to work from home who are still paying time-of-use electricity rates to consider switching to the tiered rate option, offering a flat rate at all hours of the day,” the spokesperson from the Ministry of Health told Daily Hive. 

They added that customers who are unable to pay their electricity bills due to COVID-19 can apply to the COVID-19 Energy Assistance Program (CEAP) through their local utility. We have recently expanded eligibility for the CEAP program and residential customers can now receive up to $750 in direct electricity-bill relief.

There are also a number of programs available to help low-income consumers and other supports from the provincial government.

It’s important to note that the province can only apply emergency electricity relief to the province as a whole and is unable to apply regional electricity subsidies.