Peggy Revell
Fort Frances Power Corporation customers will soon be switched over to “time-of-use” billing.
“We’re currently on track to meet [the province’s] 2011 mandated time-of-use (TOU) date” reported Joerg Ruppenstein, CEO and president of the Fort Frances Power Corporation to town council this Monday night about the provincially mandated switch over to smart meters and TOU billing for residential and small commercial customers.
All smart meters have been installed for FFPC customers, Ruppenstien said, and customers will be transitioned in “waves” over to the new fee structure in the upcoming weeks.
“We’re expecting that our first customers, our first cycle structure, will be transitioned over to time-of-use rates, with our tentative date as July 11,” he said, stressing that this is a tentative date at this point, as the switchover requires a lot of IT and computer work.
The first bills to come out using the TOU billing can be expected by mid-August.
All eligible FFPC customers (i.e., those not signed with an independent energy retailer) will continue to receive the historic power agreement credit of one cent/kWh.
The Ontario Clean Energy Benefit will also still apply, which is a reduction of 10 percent, he added.
TOU billing will also only effect the commodity portion of the bill.
“One of the key questions we get, and a lot of consumers ask is, ‘What’s going to happen to my bill?’” Ruppenstein said. “Depending on what type of user you are, that really is going to dictate what happens to your bill.”
Up until now, billing was calculated on a tiered system, Ruppenstien explained.
“We currently have two tiers—one for residential, one for commercial—so all it means is the first 600 kWh that we consume is at a lower tiered price. Any electricity that you consume above this threshold, is on a higher tiered price,” he explained.
The new system will see three price periods with TOU rates, classified as: “on-peak” (when cost and demand are highest), “mid-peak” (cost and demand are moderate), and “off-peak” (cost and demand are lowest).
Currently, the off-peak price is actually for electricity is less than the lower tier price, Ruppenstein noted when comparing the two systems, while the mid-peak price is approximately one cent higher than the higher tiered price, and on-peak costs is even higher.
For both systems, the Ontario Energy Board reviews and adjusts rates every six months, on May 1 and Nov. 1.
“Time of day is going to be important,” he said about the factors which will contribute to how this will effect a household’s billing.
In the summer season (May 1-Oct. 31) off-peak hours will be from 7 p.m.-7 a.m., mid-peak is from 7-11 a.m. and 5-7 p.m., while on-peak runs from 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
For the winter season (Nov. 1-April 30), off-peak hours are from 7 a.m.-7 p.m., mid-peak from 11 a.m.-5 p.m., with on peak from 7-11 a.m. and 5-7 p.m.
Weekends and holidays are considered “off-peak” during both the winter and summer periods.
When calculated, Ruppenstein noted that 66 percent of the time is spent on off-peak, 17 percent on mid-peak and 17 percent on high-peak.
“The big lesson is, the easiest thing consumers can do is if you can try to shift the biggest users of electricity to off-peak periods,” he said, noting that the new bill format will let people see when they are using the most energy.
Informational packages will be mailed out soon, Ruppenstein said, including stickers with the time charts so people can help keep track of the TOU structure.
As well, he encouraged people to visit the Ontario Energy Board’s website (www.ontarioenergyboard.ca) for more information, including bill calculators to run scenarios to see what effect the switch will have.
