What's new newsletter

The OEB has published its report to the Minister on System Expansion for Housing Developments. Prepared in response to the November 2023 Letter of Direction, the report presents the OEB’s recommendations to support the government’s goal of building at least 1.5 million new homes and supporting infrastructure, while outlining a practical, affordable and transparent cost recovery framework for all Ontarians. The forward-looking plan set out in this report identifies the immediate needs highlighted by developers and other stakeholders and aims to support electrification and an energy transition that is practical, affordable, and transparent for all Ontarians. We are grateful to our stakeholders for their participation as we developed our advice, and we look forward to working with them to implement this important work.

Ontario Energy Board announces changes to electricity prices for households, small business and farms.

The OEB has published the Activity and Program-based Benchmarking (APB) – 2023 Unit Cost Report, which aims to encourage continuous improvement by regulated electricity distributors. The report includes unit cost results for 2023 based on the latest Reporting and Record Keeping Requirements (RRRs) data.

The OEB holiday timeout period will be from December 21, 2024, to January 5, 2025. During this period, the OEB will generally avoid issuing decisions and documents that require immediate action from recipients except in instances where it could impact the implementation of January 1st rates or time-sensitive approvals. The OEB will also consider requests by parties to issue documents during the holiday timeout period.

The OEB has announced its phased approach to providing customers with access to electricity distribution capacity maps in response to the November 2023 Letter of Direction. In the initial phase, licensed distributors are expected to post capacity information by March 3, 2025.

The OEB is launching a consultation to advance its performance-based approach to rate regulation. The objective of this initiative is to develop ways to strengthen the link between what electricity distributors earn and the achievement of outcomes consumers value, such as cost-effectiveness, reliability and customer service.

The OEB’s Board of Directors is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Vinay Sharma to the role of part-time Commissioner and extension of Dr. Robert Dodds in his current role as full-time Commissioner. Dr. Sharma joins an existing compliment of highly qualified and dedicated Commissioners who collectively are responsible for ensuring the quality, efficiency and timeliness of our adjudicative work.

The OEB has issued a letter describing an initiative to implement a requirement for utilities to periodically submit an independent cyber-security assessment based on the Ontario Cyber Security Framework (OCSF). The proposal would require utilities to have a qualified third-party assess their maturity against the OCSF and then report this to the OEB. OEB staff looks forward to the opportunity to present this initiative and engage with industry participants at an upcoming CSAC meeting. All licensed electricity transmitters and distributors are encouraged to participate.

The OEB has amended the Distribution System Code and Transmission System Code. The amendments, which come into force October 1, 2024, require utilities to comply with the new Ontario Cyber Security Standard document that focuses on privacy, corporate governance, and situational awareness related to cyber security.

The OEB has updated its Customer, Consumption and Revenue Dashboard to include a new Customer Count page, filter to review top electricity distributors, and monthly consumption and distribution revenue data.