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Ontario Clean Energy Adjustment lowers hydro bills by shifting global adjustment costs, cutting time-of-use rates, and using OPG debt financing; ratepayers get inflation-capped increases for four years, then repay costs over 20 years.

Key Points

A 20-year line item repaying debt used to lower rates for 10 years by shifting global adjustment costs off hydro bills.

✅ 17% average bill cut takes effect after royal assent

✅ OPG-managed entity assumes debt for 10 years

✅ 20-year surcharge repays up to $28B plus interest

Ontarians will see lowered hydro bills for the next 10 years, but will then pay higher costs for the following 20 years, under new legislation tabled Thursday.

Ten weeks after announcing its plan to lower hydro bills, the Liberal government introduced legislation to lower time-of-use rates, take the cost of low-income and rural support programs off bills, and introduce new social programs.

It will lower time-of-use rates by removing from bills a portion of the global adjustment, a charge consumers pay for above-market rates to power producers. For the next 10 years, a new entity overseen by Ontario Power Generation will take on debt to pay that difference.

Then, the cost of paying back that debt with interest -- which the government says will be up to $28 billion -- will go back onto ratepayers' bills for the next 20 years as a "Clean Energy Adjustment."

An average 17-per-cent cut to bills will take effect 15 days after the hydro legislation receives royal assent, even as a Nov. 1 rate increase was set by the Ontario Energy Board, but there are just eight sitting days left before the Ontario legislature breaks for the summer. Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault insisted that leaves the opposition "plenty" of time for review and debate.

Premier Kathleen Wynne promised to cut hydro bills and later defended a 25% rate cut after widespread anger over rising costs helped send her approval ratings to record lows.

Electricity bills in the province have roughly doubled in the last decade, due in part to green energy initiatives, and Thibeault said the goal of this plan is to better spread out those costs.

"Like the mortgage on your house, this regime will cost more as we refinance over a longer period of time, but this is a more equitable and fair approach when we consider the lifespan of the clean energy investments, and generating stations across our province," he said.

NDP critic Peter Tabuns called it a "get-through-the-election" next June plan.

"We're going to take on a huge debt so Kathleen Wynne can look good on the hustings in the next few months and for decades we're going to pay for it," he said.

The legislation also holds rate increases to inflation for the next four years. After that, they'll rise more quickly, as illustrated by a leaked cabinet document the Progressive Conservatives unveiled Thursday.

The Liberals dismissed the document as containing outdated projections, but confirmed that it went before cabinet at some point before the government decided to go ahead with the hydro plan.

From about 2027 onward -- when consumers would start paying off the debt associated with the hydro plan -- Ontario electricity consumers will be paying about 12 per cent more than they would without the Liberal government's plan to cut costs in the short term, even though a deal with Quebec was not expected to reduce hydro bills, the government document projected.

But that was just one of many projections, said Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault.

"We have been working on this plan for months, and as we worked on it the documents and calculations evolved," he said.

The government's long-term energy plan is set to be updated this spring, and Thibeault said it will provide a more accurate look at how the hydro plan will reduce rates, even as a recovery rate could lead to higher hydro bills in certain circumstances.

Progressive Conservative critic Todd Smith said the "Clean Energy Adjustment" is nothing more than a revamped debt retirement charge, which was on bills from 2002 to 2016 to pay down debt left over from the old Ontario Hydro, the province's giant electrical utility that was split into multiple agencies in 1999 under the previous Conservative government.

"The minister can call it whatever he wants but it's right there in the graph, that there is going to be a new charge on the line," Smith said. "It's the debt retirement charge on steroids."

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Alberta NDP Net-Zero Electricity Plan targets a 2035 clean grid, expands renewable energy, cuts emissions, creates jobs, and boosts economic diversification and rural connectivity, aligning Alberta with Canada's 2050 climate goals.

Key Points

A policy to achieve a net-zero electricity grid by 2035, advance renewable energy, cut emissions, and grow jobs.

✅ Net-zero electricity grid target set for 2035

✅ Scales renewable energy and emissions reductions

✅ Focus on jobs, rural connectivity, and diversification

Ahead of the NDP’s weekend convention, Alberta’s Opposition leader has committed to transforming the province’s energy sector and moving the province’s electricity grid to net-zero by 2035, despite debate over the federal 2035 net-zero electricity grid target in other provinces, should an orange crush wash over Alberta in the next election.

NDP Leader Rachel Notley said they would achieve this as part of the path towards Canada’s 2050 net-zero emissions goal, aligning with broader clean grids trends, which will help preserve and create jobs in the province.

“I think it’s an important goal. It’s a way of framing the work that we’re going to do within our energy industry and our energy sector, including how Alberta produces and pays for electricity going forward,” said Notley. “We know the world is moving toward different objectives and we still have the ability to lead on that front, but we need to lay down the markers early and focus on reaching those goals.”

Premier Jason Kenney has previously called the 2050 target “aspirational,” and, as the electricity sector faces profound change in Alberta, Notley said, once the work begins, it’s likely they would meet the objective earlier than proposed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.

This is just one key issue that will be addressed at the party’s online convention, which is the first since the NDP’s defeat by the UCP in the last provincial election. Notley said other key issues will address economic diversification, economic recovery, job creation and social issues, as Alberta’s electricity market is headed for a reshuffle too. The focus, as she puts it, is “jobs, jobs, jobs.”

Attendees will also debate more than 140 policy resolutions over the weekend, including the development of a safe supply drug policy, banning coal mining in the Rocky Mountains and providing paid sick leave for workers.

Outside the formal agenda, debate over electricity market competition continues in Alberta as stakeholders weigh options.

Notley said an area of growing focus for the NDP will be rural Alberta, which is typically a conservative stronghold. One panel presentation during the convention will focus on connecting and building relationships with rural Albertans and growing the NDP profile in those areas.

“We think that we have a lot to offer rural Alberta and that, quite frankly, the UCP and (Kenney), in particular, have profoundly taken rural Alberta for granted,” she said. “Because of that, we think with a renewed energy amongst our membership to go out to parts of the province where we haven’t been previously as active, and talk about what they have been subjected to in the last two years, that we have huge opportunities there.”

Delegates will be asked to support a call for high-speed internet coverage across Alberta, which would remove barriers to access in rural Alberta and Indigenous communities, said the convention guidebook.

The convention comes as the NDP has a wide lead on the UCP, according to the latest polls. A Leger online survey of 1,001 Albertans conducted between March 5 to 8 found 40 per cent of respondents support the NDP, compared to just 20 per cent for the UCP.

Notley said it’s “encouraging” to see, but they aren’t taking anything for granted.

“I’ve always believed that Alberta Democrats have to work twice as hard as anybody else in the political spectrum, or the political arena,” she said. “So what we’re going to do is continue to do exactly what we have been, not only being a strong and I would argue fearless Opposition, but also trying to match every oppositional position with something that is propositional — offering Albertans a different vision, including an Alberta path to clean electricity where possible.”

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Kenya Power token glitches, inflated bills disrupt prepaid meters via M-Pesa paybill 888880 and third-party vendors like Vendit and Dynamo, causing delays, fast-depleting tokens, and billing estimates; customers report weekend outages and business losses.

Key Points

Service failures delaying token generation and disputed charges from estimated meter readings and slow processing.

✅ Impacts M-Pesa paybill 888880 and authorized third-party vendors

✅ Causes delays, fast-depleting tokens, weekend business closures

✅ Linked to system downtime, billing estimates, meter reading gaps

Kenya Power is again on the spotlight following claims of inflated power bills and a glitch in its electronic payment system that made it impossible to top up tokens on prepaid meters.

Thousands of customers started experiencing the hitch in tokens generation on Friday evening, with the problem extending through the weekend.

Small businesses such as barber shops that top up multiple times a week were hardest hit.

“My business usually thrives during weekends but I was forced to close early in the evening due to lack of power although I had paid for the tokens that were never generated,” said Mr John Kamau, a fast food restaurant owner in Nairobi.

Kenya Power processes up to 200,000 electronic transactions per day for power users, with 85 per cent done through its Safaricom M-Pesa paybill number 888880.

The remaining share is handled by its authorised third party vendors such as Vendit (paybill number 501200) and Dynamo (800904), which charge a premium for the transaction.

The sole electricity distributor admitted its system encountered challenges that crippled token generation across all vendors, advising customers on prepaid meters to buy the units from Kenya Power banking halls across the country until normalcy returned.

STATEMENT

“The IT team is trying to figure out where the problem was before we issue a comprehensive statement on the issue,” the firm responded to Nation queries, adding that the issue had been resolved by yesterday afternoon.

Customers who use Vendit confirmed to Nation they had successfully bought tokens yesterday afternoon.

However, there have been complaints that third party vendors process tokens almost in real time, unlike Kenya Power which, despite indicating a 30 minute delay in its service promise, sometimes takes up to six hours.  

But other users complained of inflated power bills after being slapped with abnormally high charges.

TOKENS

The holder of account number 30624694, for instance, received a post-paid bill of Sh16,765 last month, up from Sh894 the previous month.

She indulged the company and ended up paying just over Sh1,000.

There have also been complaints of tokens getting depleted too fast. For instance, one customer who normally uses Sh4,000 per month complained of her credit running out in a week.

Kenya Power maintains it cannot read all post-paid meters across the country, compelling it to make estimates for a number of customers.

The company argues it is not cost-effective to have meter readers go to all homes. The firm recently indicated plans to put all domestic consumers on prepaid meters to reduce non-payment of electricity bills and cut operation costs on meter reading and postage.

POWER CONSUMPTION

The Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firm has also adopted a new integrated customer management system to enable consumers to self-check their power consumption and understand their electricity bill and payment obligations through a phone app.

In the past, concerns have been rife that customers often encounter delays when buying tokens through paybill number 888880, unlike through other vendors.

This has raised questions on the ownership of the vendors and the cash commissions they are entitled to, with holiday scam warnings circulating in some markets as well.

FOUL PLAY

Kenya Power has, however, denied any foul play, saying the authorisation of other vendors was to ease pressure on its payment channel, which handles 85 per cent of the nearly 200,000 transactions per day.

“In fact we have 11 vendors, including Equitel, it’s just that people are only aware of Vendit and Dynamo because they have been aggressive in their marketing,” the company said.

Kenya Power has been battling court cases over inflated power bills after it emerged that the utility firm was backdating bills worth Sh10.1 billion from last November.

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BC Affordability & BC Hydro Bill Credits provide inflation relief and cost of living support, lowering electricity bills for families and small businesses through automatic utility credits and income-tested tax rebates across British Columbia.

Key Points

BC relief lowering electricity bills and offering rebates to help families and businesses facing inflation.

✅ $100 credit for residential BC Hydro users; applied automatically.

✅ Avg $500 bill credit for small and medium commercial customers.

✅ Income-based BC Affordability Credit via CRA in January.

The new B.C. premier announced on Friday morning families and small businesses in B.C. will get a one-time cost of living credit on their BC Hydro bill this fall, and a new B.C. Affordability Credit in January.

Eby focused on the issue of affordability in his speech following being sworn in as B.C.’s 37th premier, including electricity costs addressed by BC Hydro review recommendations that aim to keep power affordable.

A BC Hydro bill credit of $100 will be provided to all eligible residential and commercial electricity customers, including those who receive their electricity service indirectly from BC Hydro through FortisBC or a municipal utility.

“People and small businesses across B.C. are feeling the squeeze of global inflation,” Eby said.

“It’s a time when people need their government to continue to be there for them. That’s why we’re focused on helping people most impacted by the rising costs we’re seeing around the world – giving people a bit of extra credit, especially at a time of year when expenses can be quick to add up.”

Eby takes over as premier of the province with a growing number of concerns piling up on his plate, even as the province advances grid development and job creation projects to support long-term growth.

Economists in the province have warned of turbulent economic times ahead due to global economic pressures and power supply challenges tied to green energy ambitions.

The one-time $100 cost of living credit works out to approximately one month of electricity for a family living in a detached home or more than two months of electricity for a family living in an apartment.

Commercial ratepayers, including small and medium businesses like restaurants and tourism operators, will receive a one-time bill credit averaging $500 as B.C. expands EV charging infrastructure to accelerate electrification.

The amount will be based on their prior year’s electricity consumption.

British Columbians will have the credit automatically applied to their electricity accounts.

BC Hydro customers will have the credit applied in early December. Customers of FortisBC and municipal utilities will likely begin to see their bill credits applied early in the new year.

‘I proudly and unreservedly turn to the tallest guy in the room’: John Horgan on David Eby

The B.C. Affordability Credit is separate and will be based on income.

Eligible people and families will automatically receive the new credit through the Canada Revenue Agency, the same way the enhanced Climate Action Tax Credit was received in October.

An eligible person making an income of up to $36,901 will receive the maximum BC Affordability Credit with the credit fully phasing out at $79,376.

An eligible family of four with a household income of $43,051 will get the maximum amount, with the credit fully phasing out by $150,051.

This additional support means a family of four can receive up to an additional $410 in early January 2023 to help offset some of the added costs people are facing, while EV owners can access more rebates for home and workplace charging to reduce transportation expenses.

“Look for B.C.’s new Affordability Credit in your bank account in January 2023,” Eby said.

“We know it won’t cover all the bills, but we hope the little bit extra helps folks out this winter.”

Eby’s swearing-in marks a change at the premier’s office but not a shift in focus.

The premier expects to continue on with former premier John Horgan’s mandate with a focus on affordability issues and clean growth supported by green energy investments from both levels of government.

In a ceremony held in the Musqueam Community Centre, Eby made a commitment to make meaningful improvements in the lives of British Columbians and continue work with First Nations communities, with clean-tech growth underscored by the B.C. battery plant announcement made with the prime minister.

The ceremony was the first-ever swearing-in hosted by a First Nation in British Columbia.

“British Columbia is a wonderful place to call home,” Eby said.

“At the same time, people are feeling uncertain about the future and worried about their families. I’m proud of the work done by John Horgan and our government to put people first. And there’s so much more to do. I’m ready to get to work with my team to deliver results that people will be able to see and feel in their lives and in their communities.”

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Hydro One Pandemic Relief Fund offers COVID-19 financial assistance, payment flexibility, and Winter Relief to Ontario electricity customers facing hardship, with disconnection protection and customer support to help manage bills during the health crisis.

Key Points

COVID-19 aid offering bill credits, payment flexibility, and disconnection protection for electricity customers.

✅ Financial assistance and bill credits for hardship cases

✅ Flexible payment plans and extended Winter Relief

✅ No-disconnect policy and dedicated customer support hours

We are pleased to announce a Pandemic Relief Fund to assist customers affected by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). As part of our commitment to customers, we will offer financial assistance as well as increased payment flexibility to customers experiencing hardship. The fund is designed to support customers impacted by these events and those that may experience further impacts.

In addition to this, we've also extended our Winter Relief program, aligning with our ban on disconnections policy so no customer experiencing any hardship has to worry about potential disconnection.

We recognize that this is a difficult time for everyone and we want our customers to know that we’re here to support them. We hope this fund and the added measures, such as extended off-peak rates that help provide our customers peace of mind so they can concentrate on what matters most — keeping their loved ones safe.

If you are concerned about paying your bill, are experiencing hardship or have been impacted by the pandemic, including electricity relief announced by the province, we want to help you. Call us to discuss the fund and see what options are available for you.

CUSTOMER CONTACT CENTRE HOURS
Call us at 1-888-664-9376

Monday to Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

KEEPING ONTARIANS AND OUR ELECTRICITY SYSTEM SAFE
We recognize the critical role we play in powering communities across the province and our support for the Province of Ontario during COVID-19. This is a responsibility to employees, customers, businesses and the people of Ontario that we take very seriously.

Since the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak began, Hydro One’s Pandemic Team along with our leadership, have been actively monitoring the issues to ensure we can continue to deliver the service Ontarians depend on while keeping our employees, customers and the public safe, even as there has been no cut in peak hydro rates yet for self-isolating customers across Ontario. While the risk in Ontario remains low, we believe we can best protect our people and our operations by taking proactive measures.

As information continues to evolve, our leadership team along with the Pandemic Planning Team and our Emergency Operations Centre are committed to maintaining business continuity while minimizing risk to employees and communities.

Over the days and weeks to come, we will work with the sector and government, which is preparing to extend disconnect moratoriums across the province, to enhance safety protocols and champion the needs of electricity customers in Ontario.
 

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Ofgem UK Electricity Interconnectors will channel subsea cables, linking Europe, enabling energy import/export, integrating offshore wind via multiple-purpose interconnectors, boosting grid stability, capacity, and investment under National Grid analysis to 2030 targets.

Key Points

Subsea links between the UK and Europe that trade power, integrate offshore wind, and reinforce grid capacity.

✅ Two new subsea interconnector bids open in 2025

✅ Pilot for multiple-purpose links to offshore wind clusters

✅ National Grid to assess optimal routes, capacity, and locations

Ofgem has opened bids to build two electricity interconnectors between the UK and continental Europe as part of the broader UK grid transformation now underway.

The energy regulator said this would “bring forward billions of pounds of investment” in the subsea cables, such as the Lake Erie Connector, which can import cheaper energy when needed and export surplus power from the UK when it is available.

Developers will be invited to submit bids to build the interconnectors next year. Ofgem will additionally run a pilot scheme for ‘multiple-purpose interconnectors’, which are used to link clusters of offshore wind farms and related innovations like an offshore vessel chargepoint to an interconnector.

This forms part of the UK Government drive to more than double capacity by 2030, and to manage rising electric-vehicle demand, as discussed in EV grid impacts, in support of its target of quadrupling offshore wind capacity by the same date.

Interconnectors provide some 7 per cent of UK electricity demand. The UK so far has seven electricity interconnectors linked to Ireland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Norway, while projects like the Ireland-France connection illustrate broader European grid integration.

Balfour Beatty won a £90m contract for onshore civil engineering works on the Viking Link Norway interconnector, which is due to come into operation in 2023, while London Gateway's all-electric berth highlights related port electrification.

It said that interconnector developers have in the past been allowed to propose their preferred design, connection location and sea route to the connecting country. Ofgem has now said it may decide to consider only those projects that meet its requirements based on an analysis of location and capacity needs by National Grid.

Ofgem has not specified that the new interconnectors must link to any specific place or country, but may do so later, as priorities like the Cyprus electricity highway illustrate emerging directions.

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