On April 15, 2010, the Ontario Energy Board announced its new electricity commodity prices for consumers that are on the Regulated Price Plan (RPP) and Time-of-Use rates.

Starting on May 1, 2010, RPP Tiered Pricing consumers will see an increase in price from 5.8 cents to 6.5 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh), and from 6.7 cents to 7.5 cents per kWh for consumption above the threshold. The price threshold will change twice a year for residential customers. The price threshold will be 1,000 kWh per 30 days during the winter season (November 1 to April 30) and at 600 kWh per 30 days during the summer season (May 1 to October 31).

Also starting May 1, 2010, customers on RPP Time-of-Use rates will also see an increase in price. Highest price (On-Peak) period will increase from 9.3 cents per kWh to 9.9 cents per kWh, Mid Price (Mid-Peak) period will remain the same at 8.0 cents per kWh and Lowest Price (Off-Peak) period will increase from 4.4 cents per kWh to 5.3 cents per kWh. View more information about Time-of-Use rates.

The increase in both the Tiered and Time-of-Use pricing is primarily due to the forecasted increase in the cost of generating electricity. For more information, visit the Ontario Energy Board's website.

This electricity price increase takes effect May 1, 2010 and Toronto Hydro will prorate your bill so that consumption before May 1 is charged at the previous rates and consumption on or after May 1 is billed according to the new rates.

As a Property Manager or Condo Board, your options for controlling these increases are limited.

1. Increase Common Area fees.
2. Undertake expensive equipment retro-fits to become more energy efficient.

However, the best option is:

3. Empower residents to take control of their energy consumption.

Smart sub-metering your individual unit...

• Provides a “fair” allocation of the building’s electric costs among its residents
• Allows conservation conscious residents to reduce their electric and overall monthly living costs
• Residents who choose not to conserve will be billed for their usage without impacting their neighbours’ electric charges
• Residents are free to choose how to use (and how much to use of) electricity as opposed to other conservation measures such as energy management where the building imposes some control on electrical usage

For example...
Take 900,000 suites
If each suite saved 200 kWh per month
Generates savings of 2,160,000 Megawatt hours (2,160,000,000 kWh) per year

The equivalent to:
taking 320,000 cars off the road
448,000 trees planted
3,200,000,000 pounds of CO2 prevented
providing energy to 216,758 homes per year

Since sub-metering monitors and bills each individual unit, residents won't be penalized for energy they don't use. Stratacon's knowledgeable staff will work with you to create simple solutions to meet your needs that will be streamlined from the initial building technical audit, to installation, to billing. Stratacon seamlessly integrates into your business to save you both time and money.

What are Stratacon's Standard Services?
Under a comprehensive agreement, Stratacon will provide the following:

• Supply and installation of Measurement Canada approved smart sub-metering technology to monitor in-suite utility use
• Monitoring electricity consumption for each resident suite
• Ongoing monthly billing and collection services
• Monthly remittance of the total amount invoiced to residents – Stratacon
• Assumes responsibility for bad debt that results from individual account arrears
• Fully staffed customer service department to handle resident inquiries
• Reconciliation reporting through state-of-the-art web portal
• Comprehensive payment system for residents
• Design and implementation of a customized education package for both residents and property management staff