Province-Wide Electricity Price Adjustments to Take Effect on November 1

Increases in "Electricity" Charges on Customer Bills Reflect Rising Generation Costs

Marketwired.com
Oct. 29, 2014

Province-wide adjustments to time-of-use (TOU) electricity prices, announced by the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) earlier this month will be coming into effect on November 1, 2014. The new prices for residential and small business customers are as follows:

Off-peak (7 p.m. to 7 a.m. weekdays, weekends & statutory holidays) = 7.7 cents/kWh
(An increase of 0.2 cents/kWh)

Mid-peak (11 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays) = 11.4 cents/kWh
(An increase of 0.2 cents/kWh)

On-peak (7 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays) = 14.0 cents/kWh
(An increase of 0.5 cents/kWh)

These increases in the TOU prices, which can be found on the "Electricity" line on customer bills, reflect the rising costs in electricity generation.

Although PowerStream purchases the electricity delivered to its customers from the province's generation companies, the utility does not earn any margin on the sale of the commodity. Instead, PowerStream and other electricity distribution companies in Ontario recover their costs through distribution charges, which are part of the "Delivery" portion that appear on customer electricity bills. Distribution charges account for approximately 20% of a typical PowerStream residential customer's total bill.

PowerStream Inc. has applied to the Ontario Energy Board to decrease the amount it charges by approximately $1.18 each month for a typical residential customer in the Barrie/Simcoe County rate zone and $0.94 each month for a typical residential customer in the York Region rate zone beginning on January 1, 2015. Other customers, including businesses, may be affected as well. The combined impact of the province's new prices and charges will cost a typical PowerStream residential customer slightly over $2.00 on their total monthly bill. A typical small business customer will see an increase of slightly over $5.00 per month.

The Ontario Clean Energy Benefit (OCEB), which provides a 10% reduction on the total electricity bill, will continue.
Customers who purchase electricity from an energy retailer will continue to pay electricity prices and charges in accordance with their contracts.

QUOTES

"The distribution rate reductions that we applied for on behalf of our residential and small business customers will help to mitigate the impact of the province-wide electricity price increases announced by the OEB," explained Maurizio Bevilacqua, PowerStream Board Chair and Mayor of the City of Vaughan. "PowerStream's distribution rates remain among the lowest in Ontario."

"The OEB continues to work on behalf of the consumer as well as Ontario's electricity market," explained John Glicksman, PowerStream's Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. "The increase in electricity prices reflects the rising cost in generating electricity."

BACKGROUND

A typical residential and small business customer consumes 800 kWh and 2,000 kWh monthly, respectively.

The OCEB credit applies to the first 3,000 kWh consumed monthly.

ABOUT POWERSTREAM

PowerStream is a community-owned energy company providing power and related services to more than 370,000 customers residing or owning a business in communities located immediately north of Toronto and in Central Ontario. It is jointly owned by the Cities of Barrie, Markham and Vaughan.