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: 

1. You did not have any overdue amounts on your electricity bill on March 17, 2020, the date of the Provincial Declaration of Emergency.
2. As of the date you are applying, you have any overdue amounts owing from at least two electricity bills since March 17, 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): 
   1. Is unemployed on the date the CEAP application is submitted; and
   2. Qualified for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) or received Employment Insurance (EI) after March 17, 2020.
4. The account holder has not received Ontario Electricity Support Program (OESP) or Low-Income Energy Assistance Program (LEAP) grants in 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

Alectra will be waiving late payment charges for all residential and small commercial customers, effective April 15, 2020 through August 31, 2020. This will ensure that our 980,000 residential and small business customers will not be financially impacted for late payments during this difficult time.

Additionally, in partnership with three municipalities where Alectra provides water billing services -- Markham, Vaughan and Hamilton -- we will be extending this policy to all water customers in those municipalities.

No. We have extended the provincially mandated moratorium on residential and small business disconnection for non-payment until August 31, 2020. 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 March 24 through May 31, 2020, the Ontario government suspended time-of-use rates for residential and small business customers. During that period, the government set pricing at 10.1¢/kWh no matter what time or day the electricity is consumed.

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

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.

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)