INTRODUCTION - SMART METERS

The Ontario Government predicts a 1500 MW gap in electricity supply by the year 2025. To help fill that gap, they are trying to create a “conservation culture”. To meet electricity demand during peak periods, the province must bring additional power generation online or import it from other jurisdictions. Many of these power sources are more expensive to operate and create additional pollution. Lessening electricity consumption during peak periods reduces Ontario’s reliance on these sources of electricity generation. To create a conservation culture within Ontario, the Provincial Government has mandated that all electricity meters be replaced by smart meters by 2010. Smart Meter


Your current Electricity meter measures the total amount of electricity used over an entire billing period and is read manually. Your Smart Meter will record your total electricity consumption hour by hour and send that information to Bluewater Power through a wireless network. With the ability to measure when electricity is used, different prices can apply at different times of the day. With time-of-use pricing, you will have a new way to manage your electricity use and your bills.

Right now, our *rates are based on averaging out the more expensive (daytime) and cheaper (nighttime) prices of electricity, simply because our older meters can’t report when it was used. TOU pricing better reflects the way the electricity market works. Prices rise and fall over the course of the day and tend to drop overnight and on weekends based on the amount of supply available and our levels of demand.

*The Ontario Energy Board (OEB) sets prices for electricity under the Regulated Price Plan (RPP) . They are based on the electricity supply costs forecast for the year ahead, and any adjustments required due to differences between what was paid and what supplies actually cost over the previous period.