Changes to your bill

Have you noticed changes to the cost of electricity and the rebate that is applied to your bill? Effective November 1, 2019, the Government of Ontario has made changes to your bill.
 

Cost of Electricity

The bill relief that lowered time-of-use, tiered electricity prices, and global adjustment since 2017 has been removed from the Electricity line, so it will now reflect the “true cost” of electricity. This relief has been applied to the new Ontario Electricity Rebate, described below.

The Ontario Energy Board also announced new time-of-use and tiered prices are effective November 1, 2019. Learn more at www.oeb.ca.

For customers who are paying the spot market price for electricity or who are enrolled with a retailer, the global adjustment modifier of -4.149 cents per kWh has been rolled into the Ontario Electricity Rebate as a percentage of the total bill, not as a specific kWh credit.

New on-bill rebate

The Government of Ontario introduced a new on-bill rebate. The Ontario Electricity Rebate replaces the 8% Provincial Rebate shown on page two of customers’ bills and reduces the amount of the bill by 31.8% before HST. The new rebate includes the bill relief measures that were previously applied to the Electricity line on your bill. This rebate will largely offset the price changes on the Electricity line. It applies to usage on and after November 1, 2019.

Residential, seasonal, and small business customers are automatically eligible for the rebate, as well as any customer who is using less than 250,000 kWh a year. Registered farming businesses and licensed long-term care homes (as long as they don't share an account with a hospital) are also eligible to receive the rebate.
 

Changes to the Ontario Electricity Rebate for OESP Recipients

In November 2019, electricity bills changed to include the new Ontario Electricity Rebate. The Ontario government has now changed how the rebate will be calculated for customers who are currently receiving an Ontario Electricity Support Program (OESP) credit on their bill.

Ontario Electricity Rebate Calculation November 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020

As shown in the sample bill below, the rebate has been applied to bills after the OESP credit was deducted. This resulted in OESP recipients receiving a lower rebate than other customers who aren’t receiving an OESP credit on their bill. This was an unintended consequence, and the Ontario Government has just made a regulatory change to correct how the rebate is calculated.

Ontario Electricity Rebate Calculation April 1, 2020 onwards

Effective April 1, 2020, the rebate will be calculated on the bill total before the OESP credit is applied, and OESP recipients will receive the full benefit of the rebate.
 

Ontario Electricity Rebate Refund

To compensate OESP recipients for the period when the lower rebate was applied to their bills, they will automatically receive two refunds on their bills. OESP recipients do not need to do anything to receive these refunds. They will appear under the “Your Adjustments” section of your bill.

First refund on or after March 9, 2020:

Second refund on or after April 1, 2020:

Total Ontario Support bill message

Residential customers may see a new message on page one of their bill that shows the total amount of government support they’ve received on their current bill. This message only appears if customers are receiving other subsidies in addition to the new Ontario Electricity Rebate.

The new bill message reads “Total Ontario Support on this bill is $XX.XX.” The other subsidies that could be included in this bill message include:

• Rural or Remote Electricity Rate Protection – applies to residential low density customers
  

• Distribution Rate Protection – applies to residential medium and low density customers

• First Nations Delivery Credit – only applies to qualified First Nation customers

• Ontario Electricity Support Program – only applies to qualified low-income customers.

How much will my bill change?

The amount your bill will change depends on your rate class, how much electricity you use and how your’re billed for electricity.

Below are bill impacts for a typical Hydro One customer. To see your rate class and how you’re billed for electricity, please check page two of your bill.
 

Transitional Bill

These illustrative bill graphics below show what a transitional bill will look like that has electricity usage in both October and November. Most customers will receive a bill in November that will include electricity used in October and November. If this is the case, you'll see the summer and winter electricity prices on your bill, as well as the 8% Provincial Rebate and the new Ontario Electricity Rebate.

Contact Us

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