Alectra utilities

If you’re having difficulty paying your bill due to COVID-19 you may be eligible for a credit against your electricity arrears. You are eligible for the COVID-19 Energy Assistance Program (CEAP) if you meet all of the following criteria (updated October 20, 2020):

1. As of the date you are applying, you have overdue amounts owing from at least two electricity bills since March 17, 2020.
2. You have not received Ontario Electricity Support Program (OESP) or Low-Income Energy Assistance Program (LEAP) grants in 2020.
3. The account holder (the person whose name is on the bill) or the account holder’s spouse or common-law partner (who must share the same address with the account holder) qualified for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) or received Employment Insurance (EI) at any point after March 17, 2020.

You may be eligible for an enhanced credit if:

• Your household’s main heating source is electricity, or
• You use one of the following at-home energy-intensive medical devices: Kidney Dialysis Machine, Mechanical Ventilators, Oxygen Concentrator.

Apply for CEAP

October 9 update: Beginning on October 10, 2020, the Ontario government will be providing relief to qualifying businesses in Toronto, Ottawa and Peel Region (including Mississauga and Brampton) by covering their hydro bills through at least November 6, 2020. Details on how eligible businesses will be reimbursed are expected to be provided by the government in the coming days. Alectra will be happy to assist customers if verification of amounts is required.

If you are a small business or charity customers having difficulty paying your bill due to COVID-19 you may be eligible for a credit against your electricity arrears.

You are eligible for the COVID-19 Energy Assistance Program for Small Business (CEAP-SB) if you meet all of the following criteria

1. As of the date you are applying, your small business or registered charity has an active account with an electricity distributor or a unit sub-meter provider. You will be required to provide your registered business number or registered charity number.
2. Your small business or registered charity is using less than 150,000 kWh of electricity annually if the account is with a unit sub-meter provider.
3. Your small business or registered charity is classified as a general service < 50 kW customer if the account is with an electricity distributor.
4. Your small business or registered charity did not have any overdue amounts on its electricity bill on March 17, 2020, the date of the Provincial Declaration of Emergency.
5. As of the date you are applying, your small business or registered charity has any overdue amounts owing from at least two electricity bills since March 17, 2020.
6. Your small business or registered charity was required to close* its premises to members of the public for regular operations for at least fifteen days as a result of a government order or an inability to adapt your business or charity to comply with public health recommendations.

Apply for CEAP-SB

Alectra had previously waived all late payment charges for past due accounts to ease pressure on residential and business customers, while offering multiple support programs for those experiencing financial hardships. Those support programs remain in place to assist customers who are experiencing difficulties.

While Alectra has suspended disconnections for residential customers, the utility will once again apply a late payment charge effective September 1, 2020* for past due electricity and water* accounts. Late Payment Charges are not retroactive and apply only to amounts owing as of September 1, 2020* and beyond. 

*This applies to water and wastewater charges for customers in Hamilton, Markham and Vaughan. For Alectra Utilities (formerly Guelph Hydro) customers, late payment charges on water accounts resumed on August 1, 2020.   

Alectra has suspended disconnections for residential customers, however we ask that if you are in arrears you contact us at 1-833-ALECTRA to make payment arrangements. We will work with customers to provide flexible payment arrangements and we encourage residential customers experiencing payment difficulties to also seek support through the COVID-19 Energy Support Program, the Low Income Energy Assistance Program and the Ontario Electricity Support Program.

From June 1 through October 31, 2020, the government implemented a COVID-19 Recovery Rate of 12.8¢/kWh no matter what time or day the electricity is consumed.

Beginning on November 1, 2020, new Time-Of-Use (TOU) and Tiered prices will be set by the Ontario Energy Board, and customers who are on TOU pricing will have the option of switching to Tiered pricing. No action is required, but you can learn more about your options at www.oeb.ca/choice

No, you will not experience a change in your service. We prepare year-round for the unexpected and have initiated detailed pandemic plans to ensure the health, safety and physical well-being of our customers and employees. 

We do not collect security deposits on residential accounts.

For small businesses, Alectra is refunding security deposits for qualified customers who have achieved 3-years of good payment history. Contact us at 1-833-ALECTRA to discuss your security deposit.

We understand that sometimes it is hard to make ends meet. Alectra and the Ontario Energy Board offer a variety of programs to help customers pay their electricity bills.

In addition to COVID-19 Energy Assistance Programs for residential and small business customers, Alectra has a range of programs and payment options including:

• The Arrears Payment Agreement is available to eligible residential and small business customers who are unable to pay their electricity bill. These agreements give customers more time to pay outstanding balances.
• The Low-Income Energy Assistance Program that provides year-round emergency financial relief to eligible low-income customers.
• The Ontario Electricity Support Program that enables eligible low-income customers to receive a fixed monthly credit on their electricity bills.
  • Call 1-855-831-8151 (toll free within Ontario)
  • Email help@ontarioelectricitysupport.ca
  • Use the Bell Relay service at 1-800-855-1155 (TTY to TTY)
  • The OESP Contact Centre is open Monday to Friday, from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.

To help prevent the spread of the virus, we are no longer accepting visitors at our service and office locations, and most non-essential employees continue to work remotely.

Update to Industrial Conservation Initiative (ICI)

The government recently amended its regulation to allow for Class A customers to maintain the same Peak Demand Factor (PDF) for the 2020-2021 base period that they had in the 2019-2020 base period.

This will allow companies to focus on core business without worrying about their electricity usage during peak hours. For more information please refer to the IESO's website.

• Alectra’s Emergency Operations Centre remains active, and we are working closely with the province and municipal partners.
• Alectra is maintaining call centre services to handle customer moving and payment inquiries, as well as full emergency power restoration capabilities to respond to storms and other events.
• We are following the direction of health authorities to ensure that our practices are aligned with the latest recommendations and we have put protocols in place to minimize the risk for our employees and the public.

On April 7th, Alectra provided 16,800 N95 particulate respirator masks to hospitals across its service territory to help address shortages resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. N95 masks were distributed to:

• Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (Barrie) 
• Guelph General Hospital (Guelph) 
• Hamilton Health Sciences (Hamilton) 
• Markham-Stouffville-Hospital (Markham) 
• Trillium Health Partners (Mississauga) 
• Greater Niagara General Hospital (St. Catharines) 
• Mackenzie Health (Vaughan)