Residential Electricity Rates

The Ontario Energy Board (OEB) sets electricity rates once a year on November 1st for residential and small business customers on the Time-of-Use (TOU), Ultra-Low Overnight (ULO) and Tiered price plans. As a residential customer, you can choose to switch between Time-of-Use (TOU), Ultra-Low Overnight (ULO) and Tiered prices for your electricity.

With TOU and ULO, the price you pay depends on when you use electricity. With Tiered prices, you can use a certain amount of electricity each month at a lower price. Once that limit is exceeded, a higher price applies.

About TOU Pricing

With TOU prices, the price depends on when you use electricity. You can help manage your electricity costs by shifting your usage to lower price periods when possible.

There are three TOU periods:

Off-peak: When demand for electricity is lowest. Ontario households use most of their electricity – nearly two thirds of it – during off-peak hours.
Mid-peak: When demand for electricity is moderate. These periods are during the daytime, but not the busiest times of day.
On-peak: When demand for electricity is generally higher. These are the busier times of day - generally when people are cooking, starting up their computers and running heaters or air conditioners.

About ULO Pricing

With ULO prices, the price depends on when you use electricity. You can help manage your electricity costs by shifting your usage to lower price periods when possible.

There are four price periods:

Ultra-Low Overnight: When demand for electricity is lowest on average.
Weekend Off-peak: When demand for electricity is generally lower.
Mid-peak: When demand for electricity is moderate.
On-peak: When demand for electricity is highest on average.

With ULO, the price periods remain the same all year round.

About Tiered Pricing

With Tiered prices, you can use a certain amount of electricity each month at a lower price. Once that limit (called a threshold) is exceeded, a higher price applies. For residential customers, the threshold normally changes with the season to reflect changing usage patterns – for example, there are fewer hours of daylight in the winter and some customers use electric heating.

In the winter period (November 1 – April 30), the Tier threshold for residential customers is 1,000 kWh so that households can use more power at the lower price. In the summer period (May 1 – October 31), the Tier threshold for residential customers is 600 kWh.

Tiered prices give you the flexibility to use electricity at any time of day at the same price, although that price will change if you exceed the threshold during the month.