This is a portion of the Regulatory Charges line item on the bill. This charge is designed to reduce costs for eligible customers located in rural or remote areas where the costs of distributing electricity is higher. This charge is paid by all electricity consumers in the province and is approved by the OEB. The new charge is 0.14 cents per kWh (from 0.07 cents per kWh), effective January 1, 2024.
Delivery charges are made up of the following
items:
- Distribution rates are designed to recover our costs for the poles, wires, meters, stations that are used to deliver electricity to your home or business, as well as the costs related to meter reading, billing, and customer service. Distribution rates include:
- a monthly service charge that does not change no matter how much electricity you use,
and
- a distribution volumetric rate that varies based on how much electricity you use (this
doesn’t apply to residential customers).
- A low-voltage service rate that varies based on how much electricity you use.
- A smart meter entity charge of $0.42 per month that we collect on behalf of the IESO. This
charge is effective until December 31, 2027 and only applies to residential and general
service energy-billed customers.
- Cost or credit adjustments (also known as rate riders) – adjustments to reconcile for costs
or surpluses incurred while providing electricity to customers.
- Transmission rates recover the costs to operate and maintain the high-voltage transmission
system and vary based on how much electricity you use.
- An adjustment for line losses.