Understanding bills and general rates

Interruptible Electricity Rate Option

Hydro-Québec offers this option to Rate M customers with a contract at a general rate for medium power who are able to reduce their power demand during winter and keep it under a predetermined level, called “base power.”

To be eligible for this option, you must

be able to shave your load, for example by scaling back operations or switching to a dual-energy heating system, and
have a networked meter.

You should also be motivated to closely manage power consumption, have qualified employees to manage the load and have an automatic control system in place.

You must meet the following additional conditions:

Base power less than or equal to 85% of the average billing demand the previous winter.
Difference between maximum power demand (previous winter) and base power greater than or equal to 100 kW.

	Example 1	Example 2
Base power	600 kW	425 kW
Average demand billed (previous winter)	800 kW	500 kW
Maximum power demand (previous winter)	950 kW	515 kW
Is condition 1 met?	YES 85% of 800 kW = 680 kW 600 kW ≤ 680 kW	YES 85% of 500 kW = 425 kW 425 kW ≤ 425 kW
Is condition 2 met?	YES 950 kW - 600 kW = 350 kW 350 kW ≥ 100 kW	NO 515 kW - 425 kW = 90 kW 90 kW < 100 kW
Is the customer eligible?	YES	NO

Change in base power

You may raise or lower your base power once during the winter.
The new base power will start applying within 30 days.
No retroactive modification is permitted.

Boiler failure

You must notify Hydro-Québec if an oil-fired boiler becomes unavailable and you are unable to meet your base power commitment. Your base power will be adjusted temporarily.
Hydro-Québec may terminate your agreement if this happens more than twice during the agreement period or if the unavailability exceeds seven business days.
Under such circumstances, the amount of the fixed credit will be prorated to the number of days you were signed up for the option.