THUNDER BAY – Thunder Bay Hydro Electricity Distribution Inc. has made a rate application to the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) that may result in an increase in customer bills. The overall impact of the changes, if approved, would be a 2.7% increase, or $2.95, on average for residential bills and 3.2% increase, or $8.48 on average for general service (business) bills.
There are a variety of charges that originate from provincial entities and are collected by Thunder Bay Hydro and then remitted. The majority of the requested increase is related to changes to these provincial charges. Locally, Thunder Bay Hydro is looking for a 0.18% increase in its funding for their operations and an adjustment to compensate for lost revenue due to conservation.
The application process takes several months so an OEB response to the application would not be expected before the spring of 2011. The complete application has been posted to the company website, www.tbhydro.com.
This rate adjustment application is separate from the changes to the commodity price of electricity announced by the OEB on Monday. As of November 1, 2010, Thunder Bay Hydro customers who are on the Regulated Price Plan will see an average decrease of 1.5% in prices relative to the summer threshold period.
Thunder Bay Hydro would like to point out that, despite OEB emphasis on Time of Use rates and broad media coverage on that pricing system, Thunder Bay Hydro customers are not on Time of Use pricing. The switch is not expected to take place until the late summer of 2011 and will be preceded by extensive customer education.