Electricity Prices for Toronto Residential Customers

Regulated Price Plan (RPP) Prices

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:

TOU Prices - Winter - Nov 1, 2023:

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

Ultra-Low Overnight (ULO) Nov 1, 2023:

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.

Notes on Comparing Electricity Offers

Make sure you read the contracts, in particular the Price clause. There are two types of offers:

Load Following, no balancing costs. This includes Canada Energy, Direct Energy.
Contracts with Pool Balancing Adjustment. Superior, Planet, Summitt, MyRate and Just Energy have this clause. This is to make up any difference in amount or time of use between historical use and use during the contract period. The suppliers group customers together into pools and purchase electricity contracts to match most of the historical use of that group. If the purchase does not match actual use, an adjustment is made. The maximum adjustment is in the contract, usually 1 cent/kWh.

What are "green" and "brown" power?

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.

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What Makes Up an Electricity Bill

There are a variety of fixed and variable components. Check with your utility for exact rates.

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 is the deregulated portion. This is a weighted estimate of the RPP Price. 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.

Deciding on the variable portion

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.

Comparing with your current electricity bill

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.

Comparing and deciding among the various offers

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.

Regulated rates are not fixed rates, nor can they be

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.

Regulated Price Plan (RPP) Settlement

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.

Low Income Assitance

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