Your Options for Buying Electricity

The following information has been compiled from the Ontario Energy Board (OEB). Please see their Website at http://www.oeb.gov.on.ca/energychoiceisyours/en/index.htm for further information. The Independent Electricity System Operator also has excellent resource information at http://www.ieso.ca/imoweb/infoCentre/ic_index.asp

These Options Only Affect the "Electricity" Portion of your Bill.
Your electricity bill each month contains a number of charges including:

• Electricity: This is the cost of the electricity supplied to you during the billing period and is the part of the bill that is subject to competition. The electricity consumed is multiplied by the adjustment factor. Horizon Utilities collects this money and pays this amount directly to our suppliers.
• Delivery: These are the costs of delivering electricity from generating stations across the Province to Horizon Utilities Corporation, then to your home or business. This includes the costs to build and maintain the transmission and distribution lines, towers, and poles and operate provincial and local electricity systems. A portion of these charges are fixed and do not change from month to month. The rest are variable and increase or decrease depending on the amount of electricity that you use.
• Regulatory: Regulatory charges are the costs of administering the wholesale electricity system and maintaining the reliability of the provincial grid.
• Debt Retirement Charge: The debt retirement charge pays down the debt of the former Ontario Hydro.
• Provincial Benefit: The price of generation in Ontario is set by a competitive market. Certain generators receive payments through regulation or contract that differ from the market price. Your portion of the net adjustment arising from these different payments is included on your bill.

Your options for buying electricity, discussed above, only relate to the "Electricity" line of your bill - what you use for heating, lighting, air-conditioning, appliances and so on.

Three Options for Buying Electricity:

Although your electricity is delivered to you by Horizon Utilities, you have the option of buying the electricity you use in one of three ways:

1. One way is through the Regulated Price Plan (RPP), in which you are charged a regulated price per kWh through Horizon Utilities. Horizon Utilities does not earn a profit on the electricity purchased for you. You pay the cost of the electricity Horizon Utilities buys in the market on your behalf. The price is set by the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) at the rates outlined above. As of May 1, 2006, the price may change up to every six months since the price is estimated by the OEB based on a forecast and it may not reflect what has been paid to generators. The difference is incorporated into future prices set by the OEB if you remain on the RPP. If you leave the RPP, you will need to settle your Regulated Price Plan account with your utility, since the stable price you've been paying may not reflect the cost of electricity up to that time.
   
   You can learn more by reading the following factsheets on the OEB website
   
   
2. Another way of purchasing electricity is through an electricity retailer, in which you pay the price per kWh as agreed upon by you and the retailer in the contract you sign. The price you pay is usually guaranteed for a number of years. If you switch to an electricity retailer, there are items on your bill that are still charged to you by Horizon Utilities. Since Horizon Utilities operates and maintains the hydro wires that deliver your electricity, Horizon will continue to deliver electricity to you and charge amounts for the Delivery, Regulatory and Debt Retirement Charge lines on your bill. Your contract with the electricity retailer only affects the amount on the "Electricity" line of your bill.
   Learn more from the OEB Website
   
   
3. A third way - only available for a limited number of consumers who have a special (interval) meter - is through spot market pricing, in which you pay actual wholesale market prices for electricity. These prices are volatile, fluctuating up and down every hour.

For more information on the hourly spot market pricing, please see http://www.ieso.ca/imoweb/infoCentre/ic_index.asp

Along with most consumers served by local utilities, you are automatically part of the first option - the Regulated Price Plan - unless you choose one of the other options.