Ontario household electricity prices to rise 52% from 2017 to 2035

EFFECTS OF PLAN

of the provincial Liberal government’s plan to lower power bills kick in and then wear off.

The government released an update to its long-term energy plan Thursday, projecting the average monthly residential bill for electricity in Ontario will dip to $127 in 2017 from $158 in 2016, helped by savings from the Liberals’ so-called Fair Hydro Plan.

The projections also show, however, that the average power bill will ultimately rise from $127 this year to $193 by 2035, a 52 per cent increase.

“Certainly the measures brought forward in our Fair Hydro Plan have an effect, but it is well known that our government has taken major steps to remove costs from our electricity system, now and in the future,” Ontario Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault said Thursday.

Meanwhile, large industrial customers in southern Ontario will see the price per megawatt hour they pay for electricity increase from $83 this year to $116 by 2035, according to the projections.

Electricity prices overall in Ontario are a contentious political issue, prompting the Liberal government’s plan to reduce electricity costs by 25 per cent on average. The plan was rolled out in full this summer and will have a net cost of $21 billion over 29 years, according to the province’s financial accountability office. It includes an eight per cent rebate for customers enacted in January, in addition to a “refinancing” of some power costs that will see the government and Ontario Power Generation Inc. take on billions of dollars of debt.

Customers will ultimately pay back that debt via their power bills, which the new long-term energy plan takes into account. Premier Kathleen Wynne has said the Fair Hydro Plan would end up costing more, but ease the burden on today’s electricity customers.