Business rates north of the 53rd parallel

Business customers served by off-grid systems north of the 53rd parallel pay the same price for electricity used as customers on Hydro-Québec’s main grid, as long as they don’t use it for heating rooms and water or for any other thermal application, except to cook and conserve food:

• Household appliances
• Appliances used solely for air-conditioning for the comfort of occupants or the proper operation of heat-sensitive equipment
• Industrial or commercial appliances used to cook and conserve food
• Appliances used by light industry for manufacturing processes
• Mortuary containers
• Heating cables in water treatment plant intake pipes*
• Equipment used to produce and maintain ice in arenas*

*For peak demand management purposes, however, such loads must be interrupted at Hydro-Québec’s request.

If electricity is used for heating space or water, or for any other unauthorized thermal application, Hydro-Québec applies the system access charge along with the price and method of calculating billing demand for Rate G, G9, M or MA, as the case may be, and any energy use is billed at 94.382¢ per kilowatthour (kWh).

Rate MA

When electricity is delivered from an off‑grid system, Rate MA applies to any contract under which maximum power demand has ever exceeded 900 kilowatts (kW).

Hydro-Québec may require that a single contract cover all electricity delivered when used for similar purposes in the same location.

Structure of Rate MA

For Rate MA service contracts, Hydro‑Québec applies Rate M to the billing demand and energy up to 900 kW and 390,000 kWh per monthly period.

Any additional consumption is billed as follows:

• $37.855/kW and 24.692¢/kWh when the electricity is produced by a heavy diesel power plant
  or
• $74.374/kW and 58.119¢/kWh in all other cases

The energy prices for Rate MA, expressed in cents per kilowatthour, are revised by Hydro-Québec on October 1 of each year, using the formulas set out in Article 9.11 of the Electricity Rates [PDF 1.44 MB].

Rates in effect as of April 1, 2025. This table does not replace the Electricity Rates document in any way whatsoever.

More information

To find out more about rates applicable to business customers served by an off-grid system north of the 53rd parallel, see Section 2 of Chapter 9 of the Electricity Rates [PDF 1.44 MB].