Commercial 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 commercial 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.
Mid-peak: When demand for electricity is moderate.
On-peak: When demand for electricity is generally higher.

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 small business customers, the Tier threshold is 750 kWh all year round.

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.