Smart Meters and Time-of-Use Rates
General InformationA Smart Meter electronically tracks how much electricity is used and when it is used, paving the way for Time-of-Use (TOU) rates to help customers better manage their electricity costs. The provincial government has mandated the installation of Smart Meters for all residential and small business customers in Ontario by December 31, 2010 and the migration of all these customers to TOU rates by summer 2011. As of the end of December 2009, more than three million Smart Meters had been installed across the province with at least 300,000 electricity customers in Ontario on TOU rates. To help meet the government’s targets, PowerStream by the end of April 2010 had installed more than 250,000 Smart Meters in its service territory. Migration of Aurora and Richmond Hill residential customers to TOU rates has been completed. The migration of Vaughan residential customers to the new rate structure is currently underway. Vaughan residential customers will be followed by residential customers in Markham (starting in September 2010) and Barrie/Simcoe County (starting in November 2010). Small business customers in PowerStream's service territory will be switched to TOU rates in 2011. Get the answers to 'Why Ontario is introducing Smart Meters', 'What are Time-of-Use rates?', and 'How you can start to prepare now'. If your new Smart Meter has been installed you've received the PowerStream Smart Avenues DVD, a 25-minute video with ideas that will help you conserve and take advantage of the Smart Meter. After you view our Smart Avenues video return to this page to complete our brief questionnaire.
Conventional meters record only the total amount of electricity used for an entire billing period. A Smart Meter automatically records not only how much electricity is used but at what time of the day it is consumed and sends the information to PowerStream through a wireless connection, allowing customers to make informed choices to help manage their total electricity costs through TOU rates. It will provide customers with the opportunity to control how much they pay for electricity. Until a customer is migrated to TOU rates, they will see no change in their electricity bill even if they have a Smart Meter installed. PowerStream will be notifying each customer at least one month in advance of being migrated to TOU rates. Visit the Ontario Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure's website for more information about its Smart Meters initiative.
| 