As an electricity consumer in Ontario, you receive a bill that shows each of the individual charges that make up the costs of delivering electricity to your home from generators, as well as the cost to purchase that electricity for you.
The sample residential TOU bill below explains the separate charges, and shows how they appear on your bill. Scroll down or click the numbered icons to see an explanation for that section of the bill. Also See: Seasonal (Cottage) | Small Business (kWh)
To find out how your electricity rates are calculated, go to Rates and Pricing.
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Front of Bill
1. Service address is the premises address being charged for usage.
2. Your billing date – the date your bill is mailed to you.
3. How to contact us.
4. A summary of what you owe. Calculation details can be found on the back of the bill.
5. The date we automatically withdraw your payment from your chequing account, so you avoid late payment charges.
6. Watch this area for important messages from Hydro One Networks.
7. Our province-wide 24-hour power outage and emergency number. Keep it handy for future reference.
8. Standard Service Supplied by Hydro One will appear on the bill of customers who are not enrolled with a retailer.
9. This comparison chart details the average electricity you used per day in each of the three Time-of-Use periods: on-peak, mid-peak, and off-peak. It will appear on every bill as required by the government.
10. Your remittance stub. To make a payment by mail, detach it and include it with your payment. Please be sure the return address shows through the envelope window. (This section will be blank if you are enrolled in our Pre-Authorized Payment Option or if you have a credit on your account.)
Page 2 of Bill
11. Balance forward shows the amount of your previous bill, payments made since, and any difference.
12. Service classification indicates your account type (residential, seasonal, farm or general service). Your residential classification is identified by one of three density levels: normal, high and urban.
13. This line item shows your meter number and your total electricity consumption for the billing period.
14. Metered usage in kilowatt-hours shows the amount of electricity you used for the billing period. When electricity is transmitted over distances and passes through lines and transformers, a small percentage is lost naturally. Line losses are an unavoidable part of delivering electricity. Therefore, we must purchase a small amount more than what you use. To determine the amount of electricity that we need to buy for you, we use a calculation called an adjustment factor to adjust your usage.
The line item Adjusted usage in kilowatt-hours shows the amount of electricity you used after adjustment for line losses. The adjustment factor is used to account for the line losses in the electricity system that are not measured by your own meter. The adjustment factor is approved by the Ontario Energy Board and will vary according to your service type. The adjustment factor in this example is 1.085.
15. Electricity
The electricity line on your bill shows the electricity you consumed in each of the three Time-of-Use periods: on-peak, mid-peak and off-peak. Effective May 1, 2011, the Time-of-Use prices are 5.9 cents per kWh for off-peak; 8.9 cents per kWh for mid-peak and 10.7 cents per kWh for on-peak. The OEB reviews electricity prices every six months and resets prices, if necessary.
If you buy your electricity from a retailer (or have recently signed a new contract) and are paying their contract price, you will continue to pay the price set out in your contract.
The Electricity charge is calculated based on adjusted usage (amount of electricity we purchased on your behalf after adjustment for line losses).
16. Delivery
These are the costs of delivering electricity from generating stations across the Province to Hydro One, then to your home or business. This includes the costs to build and maintain the transmission and distribution lines, towers and poles, and operate provincial and local electricity systems. A portion of these charges are fixed and do not change from month to month. The rest are variable and increase or decrease depending on the amount of electricity that you use.
The majority of the variable charges are calculated based on metered usage, with the remainder of the variable costs calculated based on the adjusted usage (amount of electricity we purchased on your behalf after adjustment for line losses).
Delivery charges are set according to your service type.
17. Regulatory charges
This includes the cost of services required to operate the electricity system and run the wholesale market. The majority of these charges are variable and increase or decrease depending on the amount of your adjusted usage (amount of electricity we purchased on your behalf after adjustment for line losses). The Ontario Energy Board regulates these charges.
18. Debt retirement charge
The charges used to pay down the debt of the former Ontario Hydro. This charge will also be calculated based on your metered usage, so it will change from one billing period to the next.
19. The Ontario Clean Energy Benefit
The Ontario Clean Energy Benefit is a 10% rebate that is applied to the following charges: Electricity, Delivery, Regulatory Charges, the Debt Retirement Charge, Global Adjustment (if applicable) and HST. This rebate is effective for electricity consumed from January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2015 and will help eligible customers as we transition to a cleaner, modern electricity system.
20. If you are enrolled in our Budget Billing Plan (formerly referred to as our payment plan), you will see your current regular payment amount here. You will see also see a comparative year-to-date summary detailing actual electricity costs, Budget Billing Plan billings and the difference between the two numbers (a running balance). This helps you avoid annual reconciliation surprises.
21. Shows any one-time adjustments as they relate to your current bill, such as account set-up charge, late payment charges and other miscellaneous fees or credits.
Page 3 of Bill
22. This table defines the different Time-of-Use Periods; off-peak, mid-peak and on-peak for both Summer and Winter seasons.
23. Every bill includes a standard glossary of terms, which was written by the Ministry of Energy and electricity distributors, and tested by consumers. This glossary helps to explain the line items and you'll find it on the back of the remittance stub.
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