A load (consumer) is considered embedded if its facilities are connected to a distributor, and not directly to the IESO-controlled grid. Most homes and businesses are embedded consumers.

Buying Electricity from the Distributor

Distributors’ rates are regulated by the Ontario Energy Board (OEB). The distributor charges the consumer for the transmission and delivery of electricity. Low-volume and designated consumers pay a set rate of 4.7¢/kWh for the first 750 kWh of electricity consumed in a month and 5.5¢ for each additional kWh. Designated consumers such as universities and hospitals that use more than 250,000 kWh a year also pay the set rate.

Consumers with loads above 250,000 kilowatt hours per year pay the wholesale market price for electricity:

• If the facility has an interval meter, the monthly bill will vary depending on how much electricity is used each month, and when that electricity is used.
• If the facility does not have an interval meter, the monthly charge will be based on estimates of electricity use.

Buying Electricity Through Contracts With a Retailer

An embedded consumer has the option of buying electricity from a retailer. As of Dec 9, 2002, low-volume consumers that sign an electricity contract are no longer entitled to the 4.3¢/kWh rate set by the government. The retailer buys electricity from the real-time market or through physical bilateral contracts. The embedded consumer is then responsible for paying the retailer according to the terms of the contract. (The retailer acts as the embedded consumer’s agent; all arrangements between the consumer and the retailer are private and confidential.)

More information about the retailer contacts is available form the OEB website