Electricity Charges Breakdown
Québec electricity rates for residences and commercial customers comprise more than just the cost of electricity in the province. It includes administration fees, connection and distribution costs.
Approved by the Régie de l’énergie, the service charges and rates are costs added to the electricity bills you pay every month. Some of these fees vary depending on your electricity consumption, whereas others are the same for all Hydro-Québec customers.
System access charge: Regardless of how much electricity you use, the system access charge is the amount you pay for the electricity service. It is calculated through a simple equation:
The daily system access charge multiplied by the number of days in the billing period (usually 30 days)
Although your system access charge won’t change based on your monthly consumption, there is a system access charge for each consumption size or rate group, from residential to industrial energy customers.
As of July 2019, the system access charge for the Rate D group (the standard rate for most residential consumers) was of 40.64 cents per each day in the billing period. The first 40 kilowatt-hours (kWh) used per day cost 6.08 cents, while the remaining consumption cost 9.38 c/kWh.
Some other charges you could potentially notice in your Hydro-Québec bill:
- Contract administration charge: No cost, if the request is sent through self-service
- Contract administration charge: $25, if the request is sent through other platforms
- Monthly meter reading charge: $2.50
- Charge for insufficient funds: $10
- Initial installation charge: $85
Natural Gas Rates Breakdown
Natural gas rates in Québec are broken up into many separate charges, including transportation and distribution costs, the natural gas supply and the basic fees.
As of early 2019, the costs below were the main rates charged in an Énergir bill, formerly known as Gaz Métro, which is Québec’s largest natural gas distributor and the default provider in most areas.
- Natural gas supply (the natural gas supplied to each home or facility): 15.1762 ¢/m³
- Transportation costs (from generation facilities to Énergir): 2.907 ¢/m³
- Load-balancing (the costs related to managing variations between winter and summer loads): 6.082 ¢/m³
- Inventory-related adjustments (costs associated with maintaining gas inventories): 0.178 ¢/m³
- Distribution (costs related to the transportation of natural gas from Énergir to the final address): 31.741 ¢/m³
- Cap-and-trade emission allowance system (emission allowance cost for natural gas combustion): 4.015 ¢/m³
Basic fee: Administration costs associated with each metering device for the billing period. This calculation usually structured as:
[Metering device] x [days (billing period)] x [rate] = Basic fee
As of early 2019, the general service rate was of 54.989 cents per day and per metering device. For example, a household with only one meter and a 30-day billing period would pay:
1 x 30 x 54.989 cents = 1,631.9670 cents, or $16.319670.
It’s essential to notice, however, that some of these rates can change depending on your energy consumption size, but also on your natural gas suppliers. Consumers in Québec have the freedom to choose their natural gas providers, which can result in different natural gas rates, as well as contrasting administration fees.
If you want to know more about your energy options, go to the EnergyRates.ca comparison form, fill in your postal code and compare natural gas rates in Québec.
