Ontario taking the debt retirement charge off residents' bills

- Ontario intends to take the Debt Retirement Charge DRC off residential electricity bills, saving the typical homeowner $5.60 per month, after Dec. 31, 2015.

The province is also working with the Ontario Energy Board to develop the new Ontario Electricity Support Program to help make electricity more affordable for low-income families. After Dec. 31, 2015, eligible low-income Ontarians could expect to receive similar relief as currently provided by the Ontario Clean Energy Benefit.

Quick Facts

-- The DRC would remain on all other electricity users’ bills, including large industrial users, until the residual stranded debt is retired – this is estimated to occur by the end of 2018, which is in line with the previously estimated date range published in the 2013 Ontario Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review.

-- Families with an annual income of $20,000 spend eight per cent of their income on electricity while families with an annual income of $100,000 or more spend less than two percent.

-- As noted in Achieving Balance, OntarioÂ’s 2013 Long-Term Energy Plan, the province has undertaken a number of recent initiatives to mitigate electricity rate increases, including reducing Feed-In Tariff prices, amending the Green Energy Investment Agreement, negotiating new contracts with Non-Utility Generators with expiring contracts only if needed by the power system, introducing wind dispatch, deferring new build nuclear, and moving forward with early coal closure at Lambton and Nanticoke.