February 25, 2026 Hydro Bill

Before we moved into the seniors’ complex here in Noelville, we were told that our utility bills would be quite lower than what we were used to. For the most part, that was true: we now had only a Hydro One bill, where, before, in Midland, we had an NT Power bill for electricity, an Enbridge bill for gas; a Midland Corp bill for water and waste, and municipal taxes, included in our mortgage payments to CIBC.

Looking back at our bill payments, the total for all three in September, 2025 was $303.82; in October, 2025 (our last bills) came to $180.87. And these bills were for summertime usage.

You can imagine my delight when the electricity bill was only $109.19 for the first month in Noelville. Wow, I thought. Then the Ontario Electricity Support Program kicked in the next month. After the $60. contribution was deducted our December, 2025 bill was only $95.94. The next month it was still only $97.99. We had definitely found a way to pay less each month, even though we now paid rent for $450.00 more each month than our previous mortgage and municipal taxes.

Then the February, 2026 bill arrived: it was a whopping $167.22, even after the $60.00 contribution by the government. What!? I printed off the first three bills from our Hydro One account to figure out why.

Tricky. Hydro One extended the 28 day cycle to 36 days for this one month, only. That’s 25% more to start with. Then our kWh usage also increased which would have been augmented by the cold weather we went through for January and February. I looked up the average temps for the last year and found that January was the coldest for the whole year, of course. So, that makes sense.

The sticker shock therefore is lessened by the logic of it all, but it still hit home how dependent we are on our heat pump for heating in the winter and cooling in the summer. This past summer was mostly more moderate than we were expecting, so our electricity costs were lower than expected.

Oh, and when the electricity went out during the height of the winter snowstorm, it got very chilly inside our unit. Even the water was shut off. That was a wakeup call. (Since then, the council has added a generator for the water room, so hopefully that event will not recur.)

Now our rent is going up 4% on January 1, 2027. So, there goes more expense for us and other renters of one year. Needless, the tenants are upset. Are their protests going to be a Perfect Storm? I think so.