How to Estimate Your Ontario Electricity Bill
Updated March 2026
This page focuses on estimating a typical monthly Ontario electricity bill before it arrives. If you want a full explanation of how each line item appears on your bill, see our guide to how Ontario electricity billing works.
Ontario electricity bills can look confusing because they include several different components. Many people assume their bill is simply the cost of electricity they used, but the reality is more complex. A typical Ontario electricity bill includes energy charges, delivery charges, the Global Adjustment, and taxes. Understanding these pieces makes it much easier to estimate your monthly cost.
This guide explains how Ontario electricity bills are calculated and shows how you can estimate your own bill using typical residential usage.
Step 1: Estimate your electricity usage
The first step is estimating how much electricity your household uses each month. Electricity consumption is measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh). The average Ontario household typically uses between 600 and 900 kWh per month depending on home size, appliances, and heating.
- Small apartment: 300–500 kWh
- Townhouse or small home: 600–900 kWh
- Large detached home: 1,200–2,000+ kWh
If you are unsure about your usage, the easiest method is to check your most recent electricity bill and look for the total kWh used during the billing period.
Step 2: Calculate energy charges
The energy portion of your electricity bill is based on how many kilowatt-hours you consume and the price plan you are using. Ontario households typically use one of three pricing structures:
- Time-of-Use (TOU): prices vary by time of day
- Tiered pricing: one rate up to a usage limit and another above it
- Ultra-Low Overnight (ULO): very low overnight prices with higher daytime rates
If you know your average electricity price per kWh, you can estimate your energy cost simply by multiplying:
Energy cost ≈ monthly kWh × electricity rate
For example:
- 750 kWh × $0.12 per kWh ≈ $90 energy cost
You can experiment with different rate plans using our TOU vs Tiered vs ULO calculator.
Step 3: Add delivery charges
Delivery charges pay for the electricity infrastructure that brings power to your home. These charges include transmission lines, local distribution networks, meter services, and system maintenance.
Delivery charges often include both:
- a fixed monthly charge
- a variable charge based on electricity usage
For many Ontario households, delivery charges fall somewhere between $35 and $60 per month, although this varies by utility.
You can learn more about these costs in our guide to delivery charges explained.
Step 4: Understand the Global Adjustment
The Global Adjustment (GA) helps cover the cost of maintaining Ontario’s electricity generation system. It supports long-term generation contracts, grid reliability, and capacity planning.
The GA is not directly tied to how much electricity you personally consume, which is why it can fluctuate significantly from month to month.
Typical residential GA amounts often range from roughly $40 to $80 per month, depending on system conditions.
You can learn more about this component in our detailed guide to the Global Adjustment.
Step 5: Add HST
After energy, delivery, and Global Adjustment charges are added together, Ontario electricity bills include Harmonized Sales Tax (HST), currently 13%.
This tax is applied to most components of the bill.
Example Ontario electricity bill estimate
- Energy: $90
- Delivery: $45
- Global Adjustment: $60
Subtotal: $195
HST (13%) ≈ $25
Estimated total monthly bill: about $220
Use our calculators
If you want a more detailed estimate, you can use the tools available on this site:
These calculators allow you to test different usage levels and pricing plans to see how they may affect your electricity costs.
Why electricity bills change
Even if your usage stays the same, your electricity bill can change due to seasonal demand, regulatory adjustments, and fluctuations in the Global Adjustment.
To understand these changes in more detail, see our guide explaining why Ontario electricity bills change.
Use the calculators on this site
If you want a more detailed estimate, you can use the calculators available on this site. These tools allow you to test different electricity usage levels and pricing plans to see how they affect total monthly costs.