Billing
Did You Know?
As a residential customer, only 19.8% of your hydro payment goes to Hydro Ottawa.
Hydro Ottawa is responsible for the safe, reliable delivery of electricity to more than 305,000 customers in the City of Ottawa and the village of Casselman. As a community company, Hydro Ottawa is committed to delivering value to its customers by providing reliable service at competitive rates.
Hydro Ottawa’s delivery charge represents only a small portion of your bill. We pass on the remaining charges, without mark-up, to their respective parties on your behalf. Please see the chart below for a break-down of these charges.*
*For the average customer using 800 kWh per month.
Electricity dissipates from the point of generation to your home or business.
When electricity travels along power lines and through equipment such as transformers, a small amount of electricity is consumed as energy. This energy is lost primarily as heat – in much the same way that the elements on a stove give off heat when you turn the power on. To compensate for this effect, more power must be generated for you than you actually use.
For example, imagine walking on a hot day with a glass of lemonade. The longer you walk, the more liquid is evaporated by the heat of the sun. So the lemonade you can drink is slightly less than the lemonade you poured. On your bill, you will see the amount of power consumed labeled as “kWh Consumption” while the loss-adjusted, actual generated amount appears under “adjusted consumption”. This is the billed amount. Since energy dissipation is unavoidable, the best way to reduce your bill is to conserve - especially during peak hours.
Meter readings are now done electronically.
With more than 99% of homes and businesses now equipped with Smart Meters, manual meter reading is a thing of the past for most Hydro Ottawa customers. Smart Meter technology automatically records your electricity consumption every hour and sends it directly to Hydro Ottawa.
Hydro Ottawa’s customer information portal, MyHydroLink allows you to view all of your consumption information online and to access conservation planning tools. Once you have transitioned to time-of-use rates, seeing your consumption trends will help you shift some of your electricity use to off-peak periods, helping not only your pocket book, but the environment as well.
Ontario’s energy supply mix is evolving.
Fostering a culture of conservation and developing renewable sources of energy are cornerstones of the provincial government’s vision for Ontario’s electricity future. This can be seen in the diversity and growing availability of alternate power sources coming online in Ontario’s power grid. However, to meet the increasing demand for power in the future, it remains important to reduce our consumption now. Please do your part in promoting the adoption of clean energy sources. Visit our conservation section for some great tips and programs to save you energy.
