Most Ontario households pay for electricity under one of three price plans set by the Ontario Energy Board: Time-of-Use, Tiered, or Ultra-Low Overnight. The plan you are on determines what every kilowatt-hour costs, and for homes with solar and battery storage, it also shapes how much value the system returns. Choosing well among Ontario electricity price plans is one of the few decisions on your hydro bill that is entirely yours.
“Residential, small business and farm customers can choose their price plan, either TOU, Tiered or ULO prices.”
Ontario Energy Board, October 2026
The prices below took effect on November 1, 2026, and include the winter hours that apply from November 1 to April 30. The Ontario Energy Board reviews prices periodically, so we will keep this guide current.
Time-of-Use: priced by the hour of the day
Time-of-Use is the plan most Ontario households are on by default. Each kilowatt-hour is priced according to when it is used:
- Off-peak, 9.1¢ per kWh: weekdays from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., and all day on weekends and holidays.
- Mid-peak, 14.6¢ per kWh: weekdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- On-peak, 18.9¢ per kWh: weekdays from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m., and from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Time-of-Use rewards households that can shift laundry, dishwashing, and EV charging into evenings and weekends. Summer hours differ, so the same habits do not always deliver the same savings year-round.
Tiered: one price, up to a monthly threshold
Tiered pricing ignores the clock. You pay one price for electricity up to a monthly threshold and a higher price beyond it:
- Tier 1, 11.2¢ per kWh: the first 1,000 kWh each month in winter, and the first 600 kWh each month from May 1 to October 31.
- Tier 2, 13.2¢ per kWh: all electricity above the threshold.
Tiered pricing tends to suit households that use a modest amount of electricity, much of it during the day, and that cannot easily move consumption into off-peak hours.
Ultra-Low Overnight: the widest spread of all
Ultra-Low Overnight was introduced for households that use a great deal of electricity overnight, most notably to charge electric vehicles. It offers the lowest price of any plan, paired with the highest:
- Ultra-low overnight, 3.7¢ per kWh: every day from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.
- Weekend off-peak, 9.1¢ per kWh: weekends and holidays from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.
- Mid-peak, 14.6¢ per kWh: weekdays from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., and from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m.
- On-peak, 37.7¢ per kWh: weekdays from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.
The overnight price is exceptional, but so is the weekday afternoon peak, which is more than ten times higher. Without a plan for those five hours, Ultra-Low Overnight can cost more than it saves.
How solar changes the calculation
Under Ontario’s net metering framework, electricity your system exports earns bill credits at the price of the plan you are on when it is exported. A solar array produces most of its energy through the middle of the day, so the value of that production depends on how your plan prices those hours. Our Ontario net metering guide explains how credits accumulate and carry forward.
This is why we model a client’s consumption against each price plan before we specify a single component. The right plan for a home with solar is not always the right plan for the same home without it.
Where battery storage changes everything
A battery turns the spread between prices into an asset. On Ultra-Low Overnight, a battery can be charged by solar during the day, or from the grid at 3.7¢ overnight, and then power the home through the 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. weekday peak, when grid electricity costs 37.7¢. The same battery keeps the home running through an outage. You can read more about how we design these systems on our home battery storage page.
The Ontario Electricity Rebate
The prices above are before the Ontario Electricity Rebate, a percentage credit applied to eligible bills. Effective November 1, 2026, the rebate is 15.7%. Delivery, regulatory charges, and HST are billed separately; our guide to understanding your hydro bill explains each line.
Choosing the right plan
The best plan depends on when your home uses electricity, whether you drive electric, and whether you have, or are planning, solar and storage. If you would like a clear answer based on your own consumption rather than a rule of thumb, our team can model it for you.