Guess What? Your Ontario Electricity Bill and Taxes are Going Up — Again!

On November 1, electricity prices under the Regulated Price Plan (RPP) for residential customers, small businesses, and farms in Ontario increased, with some rates seeing jumps of over 39% for Ultra-Low Overnight (ULO) On-Peak usage.

You can find the official details on the Ontario Energy Board’s website, but here’s a summary of the average percentage price increases across the three available electricity pricing plans:

Pricing Plan	Average % Price Increase (Effective Nov 1)
Time-of-Use (TOU)	28.7%
Tiered Rates	29.1%
Ultra-Low Overnight (ULO)	33.6%

This follows last November’s increase, which was partly driven by a reduction of the Ontario Electricity Rebate (OER) from 19.3% to 13.1%. That subsidy—which critics note encourages higher electricity consumption—cost Ontario taxpayers $6 billion in 2025.

Instead of phasing it out, the provincial government has now raised the OER significantly to 23.5%, effective November 1. This means taxpayers could be on the hook for up to $10 billion next year, effectively paying to keep electricity prices artificially low and consumption high. Eventually, international credit rating agencies may take notice of this unsustainable public spending.

And there’s more on the horizon: this January, the Ontario Energy Board is expected to announce a distribution rate increase for Hydro Ottawa. The utility’s 2026–2030 Capital Plan requests a $1.2 billion budget increase, all funded by Ottawa ratepayers.

Why Costs Keep Rising

Electricity costs are expected to rise over time—Ontario is a large and complex province—but OREC believes the real issue is our overreliance on massive, centralized generation plants and long transmission and distribution lines.

In Ottawa, for example, only 20% of the electricity we use is generated locally. The remaining 80% is imported from southern Ontario. Even the Quebec power flowing through our city is mostly just passing through to Toronto.

When power must travel long distances, the system becomes less efficient, more expensive, and less resilient.

A Smarter Path Forward

For most customers, there are only two choices: pay the higher rates, or use less electricity. But homeowners have another option—investing in distributed energy resources (DERs) such as rooftop solar, home batteries, heat pumps, or electric vehicles.

These technologies help reduce energy costs for heating, cooling, and transportation while allowing homeowners to shift consumption to cheaper times of day. They also provide credits for excess generation, improve comfort, and strengthen the local grid.

Every DER installation also helps reduce the overall cost of the Ontario Electricity Rebate for taxpayers.

If you’d like to learn more, visit the OREx community eXchange, where OREC members have shared details about over 200 of their DER resources—and their real-world experience installing and operating them.

What About Renters and Condo Owners?

Not everyone can install solar panels or batteries—especially those living in apartments, condominiums, or housing co-ops. That’s where community energy projects come in.

Community solar or community battery systems allow residents of multi-unit buildings to participate in shared renewable energy systems and benefit from lower energy costs. When these systems are strategically located where the grid is most constrained, they can also deliver operational savings and improved reliability for local utilities. OREC continues to push for regulatory changes that would allow these proven community energy solutions, already successful elsewhere, to be implemented here in Ontario.

It’s Time for Local Solutions

Local Distribution Companies and the Ontario Energy Board need to start taking these smaller, community-based solutions more seriously. Without them, Ontarians will continue to face rising electricity costs year after year—even before construction begins on new nuclear plants.

Ontario has been here before. The Porter Commission warned in 1979 about the risks of over-investing in large nuclear projects—warnings that went unheeded before Ontario Hydro’s financial troubles during the Darlington build-out (see Here we go again, Ontario’s reckless Nuclear Gamble).

We don’t have to repeat that history.

By investing locally—in community power, energy storage, and distributed solutions—Ontario can build a more resilient, affordable, and sustainable energy future.