Ontario cuts its electricity rebate to 15.7% as regulated prices fall

Ontario will cut the Ontario Electricity Rebate (OER) from 23.5% to 15.7% of the eligible portion of the bill on November 1, 2026. The change comes through O. Reg. 328/26, which the province made on October 8 to amend the regulation that sets the credit. The Ontario Energy Board announced the change on October 16 alongside its new Regulated Price Plan (RPP) prices for households, small businesses and farms, and says the rebate will cut a typical 700 kWh residential bill by about $23 a month. When the rebate was set at 23.5% for November 1, 2025, the board put the same figure at about $36.

The smaller rebate arrives with lower prices. Time-of-use rates from November 1 fall to 9.1 cents per kWh off-peak, 14.6 mid-peak and 18.9 on-peak, from 9.8, 15.7 and 20.3 cents in the prices set for November 1, 2025, per the board's rate history. "Electricity prices under the OEB's RPP are decreasing year-over-year, which allows for a reduction in the OER," the board said, adding that "the overall rate of increase for customer bills will remain consistent with previous years."

Most of that price cut is a swing in the board's books: the old prices were collecting a shortfall from customers, and the new ones give a surplus back. The board's price report puts the forecast average supply cost for regulated-price customers $9.03/MWh, or 7%, below the October 2025 forecast, mainly because of the change in its adjustment for clearing past variances. The prices set for November 1, 2025 carried a $9.59/MWh charge to recover a projected $648 million deficit from those customers, per the 2025 report; the new prices carry a $3.01/MWh credit that returns a projected $205 million surplus over the November 2026 to October 2027 price year. Before those adjustments, the board's report puts the underlying supply cost up 3%. The lower prices are what, in the board's account, allow the smaller rebate.

Customers of remote unlicensed distributors, in the communities the regulation's schedule lists, keep a 23.5% credit under the current text while the main rate drops to 15.7%. Their rate moves on its own: O. Reg. 316/25, made December 11, 2025, raised it from 8% to 23.5% from January 1, 2026, and O. Reg. 328/26 does not touch it.