Hello everyone,

The OEB delivered its decisions on the elimination of seasonal electricity rates today. As expected, the Board has accepted most of what Hydro One proposed, but it has made a few positive adjustments. The Board appears to have carefully considered the inputs from all of the intervenors and has given clear rationale for the findings and decisions it has made.

As a quick summary:

The change will be implemented Jan. 1, 2023. There will be no retroactivity applied to the increases.

They have decided on Option 2A. This means a phase-in of the new rates over a 10 year period. Hydro One had proposed an 8-year phase-in; we had proposed a 12-year or more phase-in. With a very few exceptions, this means our TTCBLA members should not see increases of more than 10% in any given year, unless they increase their electrical consumption.

The Board considered our request to order Hydro One to change its policies on allowing the DRP or RRRP subsidies for people who own a secondary dwelling and occupy it for more than 8 months in a year, but ultimately decided to declare it out of the scope of the hearing, and did not order it. You can see the reference to it on pages 12 and 13.

There are a number of other findings and decisions covered in the report, which are worth reviewing.

I am glad that we chose to become involved as an Intervenor in this process. Although we were not able to change the Board’s mind on the elimination of the seasonal rates, along with other intervenors we may have been able to influence the process enough to improve the mitigation provisions and avert some even worse outcomes.

Jim