Whether you’re a homeowner, a small business owner or commercial customer, it’s important to understand your electricity bill, as well as the various charges that may impact your total monthly amount.
As your local distribution company, Hydro Ottawa provides you with clean, safe and reliable electricity to your home or business each day. Your monthly bill includes the costs for electricity consumption (electricity rate), the transmission and delivery of the electricity (delivery charge), taxes, and some other electricity market costs.
Understanding your bill
Your electricity bill includes both fixed and variable charges.
Electricity Charge
This is the cost of the electricity that you used during a billing period. As a residential or small business customer, you have the option of buying your electricity through the Regulated Price Plan (RPP) at a regulated price per kilowatt hour (kWh) or through a retailer. This is what you would call your “electricity rate”.
The Ontario Energy Board (OEB) sets the RPP prices based on its forecast of the cost to supply households and small businesses over the 12 months that follow.
Delivery Charge
The delivery charge covers the costs of delivering electricity from generating stations across Ontario to Hydro Ottawa and then to your home. It includes the costs to build and maintain transmission and distribution lines, towers and poles, and to operate provincial and local electricity systems.
While your total bill is paid to Hydro Ottawa, only the distribution charges are kept by Hydro Ottawa. The distribution charges are included in the delivery line of your bill. Hydro Ottawa collects the remaining charges on behalf of other organizations without any mark-up to customers.
Other Charges
Other charges can include the costs of administering the wholesale electricity system and maintaining the reliability of the provincial grid, the Ontario Energy Rebate, account set up charges, interests, taxes and more may appear on your monthly bill from Hydro Ottawa.
