The Ontario government is suspending time-of-use electricity rates for residents on time-of-use plans, including families, small business and farms, holding electricity prices to the off-peak rate of 10.1 cents-per-kilowatt-hour for a 45-day period. The discount will be applied automatically to electricity bills.

The reduced price will be available 24 hours per day, seven days per week to all time-of-use customers, who make up the majority of electricity customers in the province. The government says that by switching to a fixed off-peak rate, “time-of-use customers will see rate reductions of over 50 per cent compared to on-peak rates”.

The move comes after the Ontario government issued an Emergency Order under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act to apply the off-peak time-of-use electricity rate for time-of-use customers.

Depending on billing cycles, some customers may see these changes on their next electricity bill. Time-of-use customers whose billing cycle ended before their local electricity distributor implemented this change will see the reduced rate as a credit on a future bill.

This change will not impact Ontario Electricity Rebate customers, who will continue to receive a 31.8 per cent rebate on their subtotal bill amounts.

The Ontario Energy Board has extended the winter ban on disconnections to July 31^st.