ON / CANADIAN BUSINESS ELECTRICITY

Commercial electricity in Ontario

The Regulated Price Plan, wholesale pricing and retailer contracts are three different ways to buy electricity.

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Start withUtility + actual business class
Time-of-use off / mid / on-peak, from Nov 1, 20269.1 / 14.6 / 18.9¢/kWh · to Oct 31, 2027

In Ontario, how a business pays for electricity depends on its size and arrangement. Small businesses that buy from their utility are on the Regulated Price Plan, which the Ontario Energy Board resets every November 1. Most larger accounts without a retailer contract pay the wholesale price plus the Global Adjustment, and a retailer contract sets a fixed price. Delivery, regulatory charges and HST are added to all of them.

Source: Ontario Energy Board and Toronto Hydro · 2026-10-29

What the official sources say

Checked 2026-10-29. Each row names its source. The publication and your account’s terms control what applies to you.

Three ways to buy: A business can be on a Regulated Price Plan (RPP) price set by the Ontario Energy Board, pay the wholesale price plus the Global Adjustment, or sign a retailer contract with a fixed price. The OEB sets RPP prices for residential and small business customers who buy electricity from their utility.Source: Ontario Energy Board: Electricity rates · Toronto Hydro: Business rates and charges
Who sets the RPP price: The OEB sets the RPP prices once a year, on November 1. There are three plans, Time-of-Use (TOU), Ultra-Low Overnight (ULO) and Tiered, and residential and small business customers can switch between them.Source: Ontario Energy Board: Electricity rates
Time-of-Use prices set for November 1, 2026: Off-peak 9.1¢, mid-peak 14.6¢ and on-peak 18.9¢ per kWh. Off-peak is weekdays 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. and all day on weekends and holidays. The mid-peak and on-peak hours swap between winter (November 1 to April 30) and summer (May 1 to October 31).Through 2027-10-31Source: Ontario Energy Board: Electricity rates
Ultra-Low Overnight prices set for November 1, 2026: 3.7¢ per kWh from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. every day, 9.1¢ weekend off-peak, 14.6¢ mid-peak, and 37.7¢ on-peak on weekdays from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.Through 2027-10-31Source: Ontario Energy Board: Electricity rates
Tiered prices set for November 1, 2026: For non-residential customers, 11.2¢ per kWh for the first 750 kWh a month and 13.2¢ per kWh above that. The small-business threshold is 750 kWh all year.Through 2027-10-31Source: Ontario Energy Board: Electricity rates
Prices in force until October 31, 2026: Toronto Hydro lists the prices set in 2025 as Time-of-Use 9.8¢ off-peak, 15.7¢ mid-peak and 20.3¢ on-peak, and Tiered 12.0¢ and 14.2¢ per kWh. They apply until the November 1, 2026 prices take effect.Through 2026-10-31Source: Toronto Hydro: Business rates and charges
What the RPP price includes: The TOU, ULO and Tiered prices already include an estimate of the Global Adjustment. A customer with a retailer contract pays its share of the Global Adjustment on top of the contract price, shown as a separate line on the bill.Source: Ontario Energy Board: Electricity rates
Larger accounts: Toronto Hydro says most General Service customers with a monthly demand greater than 50 kW who do not have a retailer contract pay the wholesale electricity price and the Global Adjustment. Since May 1, 2025 the wholesale price is called the Ontario Electricity Market Price (OEMP), formerly the Hourly Ontario Energy Price (HOEP).Source: Toronto Hydro: Business rates and charges
Retailer contracts: Toronto Hydro describes a retailer contract as specifying a fixed price for a set number of years, and the OEB does not regulate that price. The OEB says fewer than 1 in 10 customers in Ontario buy their electricity from a retailer.Source: Ontario Energy Board: Electricity rates · Toronto Hydro: Business rates and charges
Delivery depends on the rate class: Toronto Hydro bills delivery by demand class: General Service under 50 kW, 50 to 999 kW, 1,000 to 4,999 kW, and Large Use above 5,000 kW. For under 50 kW, the customer charge is $43.70 per 30 days and the distribution volumetric rate is $0.04778 per kWh. Larger classes are billed per kVA, with transmission charges per kW. These charges took effect on January 1, 2026, and a business’s class can change with its average monthly demand.Through 2026-12-31Source: Toronto Hydro: Business rates and charges
Regulatory charges and tax: From January 1, 2026 the Wholesale Market Service charge is $0.0047 per kWh, and Capacity Based Recovery for Class B customers is $0.0006 per kWh. Customers without a retailer contract pay a $0.25 per 30 days Standard Supply Service administration charge. HST on electricity bills is 13%.Through 2026-12-31Source: Toronto Hydro: Business rates and charges
Ontario Electricity Rebate: The provincial rebate changed from 13.1% to 23.5% effective November 1, 2025, and is applied to bills for most residential consumers, long-term care homes, farms and many small businesses.Source: Toronto Hydro: Business rates and charges

What matters for a business account

An Ontario electricity bill has several lines. The Electricity line is the energy: a Regulated Price Plan price set by the OEB, the wholesale price plus the Global Adjustment, or a contract price. Delivery covers the local distributor’s wires and the transmission system. Regulatory charges, rate riders and HST are added, and the Ontario Electricity Rebate is applied to many small businesses. Each line can change for a different reason.

The distributor decides which delivery rate class a business is in, and Toronto Hydro notes that a class can change with average monthly demand. The examples on this page come from Toronto Hydro. Another distributor’s delivery charges, classes and riders differ, so use the distributor named on your own bill.

Choosing between Time-of-Use, Ultra-Low Overnight and Tiered is a question about when and how much the business uses. Under ULO the weekday 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. price is 37.7¢ and the overnight price is 3.7¢, so the shape of use across the day matters more than the total. The OEB’s bill calculator can estimate a monthly bill and compare it with a contract.

Your Ontario bill-review checklist

Find the pricing arrangement on the bill: an RPP plan (Time-of-Use, Ultra-Low Overnight or Tiered), wholesale price plus Global Adjustment, or a retailer contract.
Read the distributor’s rate class and the demand it is based on.
If you have a retailer contract, note the fixed price, the term and that the Global Adjustment is charged on top.
Keep delivery, regulatory charges, rate riders, the Ontario Electricity Rebate and HST as separate lines when you compare two periods.
Before changing plans, compare the hours when the business uses most of its electricity with each plan’s peak periods.

Turn the statement into a useful calculation

Record the billing period and electricity consumption in kWh. Use the billed demand from the statement where a demand charge applies; do not assume average consumption identifies the peak. Enter the fixed and variable components in their published units, and identify which adjustments are already included.

The Canadian calculator lets you declare energy blocks, billed demand, any included demand allowance, fixed charges and a tax assumption. Its subtotal is a model of those entries. It does not select your tariff, decide whether a business qualifies, reproduce every rider or certify a billing error.

When comparing two periods, record changes in operating hours, production, occupancy, heating and equipment. Those observations help explain a movement in consumption without inventing a market price or assuming an error. Keep the actual account and source documents privately with your business records.

Open the Canadian bill calculator →

Read the original sources

The publication and the account’s terms control applicability. A provider directory is not a province-wide offer or a guarantee that the same tariff applies to another meter.

Questions business owners ask

Should every Ontario business use the household time-of-use calculator?

No. The account’s class and pricing arrangement determine whether RPP time-of-use applies. Larger accounts and retailer contracts can require different electricity and delivery calculations.

What are the Regulated Price Plan prices from November 1, 2026?

The OEB set Time-of-Use prices of 9.1¢ off-peak, 14.6¢ mid-peak and 18.9¢ on-peak per kWh. Ultra-Low Overnight prices are 3.7¢, 9.1¢, 14.6¢ and 37.7¢, and for non-residential customers the Tiered prices are 11.2¢ for the first 750 kWh a month and 13.2¢ above that.

Does the Regulated Price Plan include the Global Adjustment?

Yes. The OEB says the Time-of-Use, Ultra-Low Overnight and Tiered prices already include an estimate of the Global Adjustment. A customer with a retailer contract pays its share of the Global Adjustment on top of the contract price.

Which Ontario businesses pay the wholesale price?

Toronto Hydro says most General Service customers with a monthly demand greater than 50 kW who do not have a retailer contract pay the wholesale electricity price and the Global Adjustment. Your bill and your distributor tell you which applies to your account.

Are these business tariffs or residential examples?

This guide is written for commercial bill review. Actual eligibility and charge inputs must come from the account’s business schedule. Residential examples and U.S. state averages are not substituted for it.