How Ontario Homeowners Can Use ULO Pricing and an SBSS for Peak Shaving

Ontario’s Ultra-Low Overnight electricity plan creates a major price spread within the same day. As of August 2026, the Ontario Energy Board lists electricity at 3.9 cents per kilowatt-hour from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. every day. On weekdays, the price rises to 39.1 cents per kilowatt-hour from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. That is roughly ten times the overnight price. See the current Ontario Energy Board electricity rates.

The challenge is that most families still cook, cool the home, use appliances and relax during the expensive evening window. Simply joining the ULO plan does not automatically create savings. The plan becomes far more useful when the home can move energy from one time period to another.

That is exactly what the Smarter Power Smart Battery Storage System is designed to do.

The SBSS can be scheduled to charge overnight while electricity is at the ultra-low rate. During the weekday peak period, the system can discharge stored energy to support the home, reducing the amount purchased from the grid at 39.1 cents per kilowatt-hour. This strategy is commonly called load shifting or peak shaving.

Consider a simplified example. Moving 10 kWh of weekday consumption from the peak period to the overnight period changes the electricity commodity cost from $3.91 to $0.39. The gross difference is $3.52 per day, or approximately $77 over 22 weekdays.

Actual savings will be lower after battery-efficiency losses, reserve settings and other bill factors. Delivery, regulatory charges and taxes may also continue to apply. Even so, the price spread shows why a properly controlled battery can make ULO much more practical.

Eligible residential and small-business Regulated Price Plan customers across Ontario can choose between Time-of-Use, Tiered and ULO pricing through their local electricity utility. Switching requires an election form. Many utilities provide an online or telephone option, and the change takes effect at the beginning of a billing period—often the next billing period when the request is received early enough. Review the OEB’s price-plan switching instructions.

Smarter Power helps homeowners do more than select a rate plan. We review hydro usage, recommend an appropriate SBSS size, program charge and discharge periods, and preserve a suitable backup reserve.

Before switching, compare the plans using the OEB Bill Calculator and the Smarter Power Residential Savings Calculator. ULO is not automatically best for every household, but when paired with an intelligently scheduled SBSS, Ontario homeowners can turn the province’s lowest electricity price into a usable supply for the hours when power costs the most.