Ontario homes can pick how they pay for power: Time-of-Use, Ultra-Low Overnight, or Tiered. Same wire, same house, very different bills depending on when you use it. Here are this year's prices side by side, who each plan suits, and where a battery changes the math.
Set once a year by the Ontario Energy Board
These are the cents per kWh on the "Electricity" line of your bill.
| Period | When | ¢/kWh |
|---|---|---|
| Ultra-low overnight | Every day, 11 pm – 7 am | 3.7 |
| Weekend off-peak | Weekends and holidays, 7 am – 11 pm | 9.1 |
| Mid-peak | Weekdays 7 am – 4 pm and 9 pm – 11 pm | 14.6 |
| On-peak | Weekdays 4 pm – 9 pm | 37.7 |
| Period | Winter (Nov 1 – Apr 30) | Summer (May 1 – Oct 31) | ¢/kWh |
|---|---|---|---|
| Off-peak | Weekdays 7 pm – 7 am; weekends and holidays all day | Same | 9.1 |
| Mid-peak | Weekdays 11 am – 5 pm | Weekdays 7 – 11 am and 5 – 7 pm | 14.6 |
| On-peak | Weekdays 7 – 11 am and 5 – 7 pm | Weekdays 11 am – 5 pm | 18.9 |
Tiered, for comparison: 11.2¢ for the first 1,000 kWh a month in winter (600 kWh in summer), 13.2¢ above that, any time of day.
Source: Ontario Energy Board, Electricity rates, prices for November 1, 2026. Delivery, regulatory charges, HST and the Ontario Electricity Rebate are separate lines on your bill and aren't included here. If you buy from an electricity retailer under contract, your contract price applies instead.
On ULO the priciest hour costs about ten times the cheapest. On TOU it's about two times.
Every kWh you move from a weekday supper hour (4 to 9 pm) to after 11 pm saves 34¢ on ULO (37.7 minus 3.7). On TOU, moving a kWh from a winter on-peak hour to off-peak saves 9.8¢ (18.9 minus 9.1). The arithmetic cuts both ways: every kWh you can't move out of 4 to 9 pm costs 37.7¢ on ULO, double TOU's on-peak price.
So the question isn't which plan is cheaper. It's how much of your use lands where.
Most households can switch between the three plans by asking their utility. Check with yours on how and when the change takes effect.
A battery turns ULO's gap from a risk into the point
It fills up overnight at 3.7¢ and runs the house through the 37.7¢ supper hours. And when an ice storm takes the line down, the same battery keeps the furnace fan, well pump and freezer going, switching over on its own. No generator to start in the dark.
One straight answer on rebates: Ontario's Home Renovation Savings rebate for batteries only covers a battery installed with new rooftop solar and designed mainly to store that solar. Do that, and Ontario pays up to $10,000 between the two. A battery that only charges from the grid on ULO doesn't qualify. We'll tell you which way your house fits before you spend anything.
Your utility already records your use hour by hour. Download a year of it from your utility's online account (look for "Green Button" or "download my data") and send it with your quote request. We'll price it under ULO, TOU and Tiered, then show what solar, a battery, or both would change. You download it yourself. We never need your hydro login or password.
Built on data. Designed to pay for itself.
A straight answer on cost and payback. No pressure, no sales script. 249-878-5651 · info@honeybeesolar.ca
Call 249-878-5651