Why Ontario electricity costs what it does: rates, the Global Adjustment and a decade of increases

The price on your electricity bill isn't just the cost of making power that hour. It also pays for long-term generation contracts, conservation programs and the grid itself, and for years those costs rose much faster than inflation.

Time-of-use prices over the years

Prices per kWh, before any provincial rebate.¹²³ The drop in mid-2017 came from the Fair Hydro Plan, which cut bills by moving costs off electricity rates rather than lowering the cost of power, and the November 2019 prices were set alongside a new on-bill rebate.⁴

The Global Adjustment

The Global Adjustment pays the difference between Ontario's hourly market price and the prices guaranteed to generators under contract. It also funds new infrastructure and conservation programs, and it now makes up most of the commodity portion of a household bill.⁵

• Ontario's Auditor General reported it grew from $650 million in 2006 to more than $7 billion in 2014.⁵
• Consumers paid $37 billion in Global Adjustment from 2006 to 2014, with $133 billion forecast from 2015 to 2032.⁵
• One Hamilton manufacturer reported its Global Adjustment costs rising from about $207,000 in 2008 to almost $3.4 million in 2016, and challenged the charge in court.⁵

Businesses pay by the hour

Businesses using more than 250,000 kWh a year pay the hourly wholesale price plus the Global Adjustment, and some charges are based on their highest peak demand, so when a business uses power matters as much as how much.⁶ Ontario's 2017 Long-Term Energy Plan forecast all-in prices for large industrial users rising steadily through 2035.⁷

Sources

Figures are as reported by the sources listed, at the dates shown. Older figures are included for historical context. Canadian Energy Standard is an independent company, not affiliated with any government, utility, generator or energy retailer named here.

1. Ontario Energy Board, historical time-of-use electricity prices, 2008-2019
2. Ontario Energy Board, new electricity prices for households and small businesses (October 13, 2020)
3. Ontario Energy Board, changes to electricity prices for households, small businesses and farms (November 1, 2025)
4. Toronto Star, Ontario's electricity subsidies surge by $1.6 billion (January 30, 2020)
5. Financial Post, Court reinstates constitutional challenge to Ontario's global adjustment charge (December 2019), citing Ontario's Auditor General
6. IESO, Large Electricity Consumers: electricity pricing in Ontario (2016)
7. Government of Ontario, 2017 Long-Term Energy Plan: Delivering Fairness and Choice

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