Typical residential customer bills to be held stable

The Government is also decreasing the Ontario Electricity Rebate (OER) from 21.2% to 18.9% effective May 1, 2021. The Government’s intention is that, for residential and small business customers, the reduction in the electricity price will be offset by the change in the OER. The OER is a total pre-tax credit that appears at the bottom of electricity bills. As a result of lower RPP prices and the reduced OER, typical residential customer bills will be held stable. The typical residential RPP customer uses 700 kWh of electricity per month.

The Government is also decreasing the Ontario Electricity Rebate (OER) from 33.2% to 21.2% effective January 1, 2021. The Government’s intention is that, for residential and small business customers, the reduction in the electricity price will be offset by the change in the OER. The OER is a total pre-tax credit that appears at the bottom of electricity bills. As a result of lower RPP prices and the reduced OER, typical residential customer bills will be held stable. The typical residential RPP customer uses 700kWh of electricity per month.

New Changes to the rebate under the Ontario Rebate for Electricity Consumers Act, 2016 Effective November 1, 2019, the Province of Ontario replaced the 8% Provincial Rebate with a new 31.8% Ontario Electricity Rebate. The rebate, formerly known as the 8% Provincial Rebate, is being renamed the “Ontario Electricity Rebate” (OER). As is the case now, the credit will be calculated on the basis of the pre-tax “base invoice amount”. The eligibility requirements for the rebate are also changing. Consumers with demand of 50 kilowatts or less or annual consumption of 250,000 kilowatt hours or less, farms and licensed long-term care homes (other than where the electricity account is also in respect of a hospital) remain eligible. Under the new rules, “multi-unit complexes”(a) they contain at least two “qualifying units”; with demand above 50 kilowatts and annual consumption above 250,000 kilowatt hours will qualify for the rebate if (b) at least 50% of the units within the complex are qualifying units; and (c) the complex provides its distributor with the required notice. Certain types of multi-unit complexes are specifically excluded from eligibility, such as hospitals, universities, trailer parks and hotels. As a transitional measure, customers that were receiving the rebate on October 22, 2019 but do not satisfy the revised eligibility requirements will continue to receive the (increased) rebate until October 31, 2020, as long as they provide the required notice to their distributor by January 31, 2020. If they do not provide the notice, they will stop getting the rebate on January 31, 2020. Multi-unit complexes that were receiving the rebate immediately before November 1, 2019 and meet the revised eligibility requirements will also need to provide the required notice by January 31, 2020 in order to ensure the uninterrupted application of the rebate. If you were receiving this rebate on or before October 31, 2019, you MUST return this form by January 31, 2020 in order to continue receiving this rebate. OER-Eligibility-Form