Ontario Hydro Bills Will Be A Lot Cheaper This Month For Households & Small Businesses

The Ontario government is providing electricity-rate relief to small businesses, workers and families forced to spend more time at home after the province's return to Step Two of its reopening plan.

The province announced that electricity prices will be set 24 hours a day at the current off-peak rate of 8.2 cents per kilowatt-hour, which the government says is "less than half the cost of the current on-peak rate."

The initiative, which will last 21 days, will come into effect at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday, January 18, 2022.

Collecting the relief will reportedly be hassle-free as the off-peak rate will automatically apply to residential, small businesses, and farms that pay regulated rates set by the Ontario Energy Board.

"We know that spending more time at home means using more electricity during the day when prices are higher, that's why we are moving to off-peak electricity rates 24 hours per day, seven days a week," Todd Smith, minister of energy, said in a news release.

"The off-peak rate will provide immediate savings for families, small businesses and farms as all Ontarians work together to slow the spread of the Omicron variant," he added.

The government introduced a similar energy relief plan in December of 2020, offering the lower cost 24 hours a day, seven days a week, over a 28-day period.

The province also previously announced the Ontario Business Costs Rebate Program, which businesses can apply to on January 18. This program will allow eligible businesses required to close or reduce capacity to collect rebate payments of 50-100% on the property tax and energy costs they incur while under restrictions.