PowerStream launches new pricing initiative

Being offered in partnership with the Ministry of Energy and Energate Inc., Advantage Power Pricing is an optional pricing plan for residential customers in which the daily on-peak price varies in response to overall provincial demand. Customers are given an opportunity to shift their consumption away from the on-peak price period, which is more expensive, to less costly, lower-price periods. This shifting reduces the strain on the province's electricity grid and provides customers with an opportunity to better manage their electricity costs.

Participating consumers will be equipped with Energate Foundation Smart Thermostats and Home Energy Gateways that will provide them with the up-to-date pricing information and respond to price changes intelligently and automatically according to their preferences. Participants of Advantage Power Pricing are expected to save approximately 10 percent on their electricity costs and are guaranteed to not pay more than if they were on the existing price plan.

PowerStream is the first utility in Ontario to offer this innovative pricing plan to its customers. The project is funded by Ontario's Smart Grid Fund and is structured to act as a template for other Ontario distribution companies to follow once the pilot is complete in the second half of 2015.