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 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:
- /kW and /kWh when the electricity is produced by a heavy diesel power plant
or
- /kW and /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, . This table does not replace the Electricity Rates document in any way whatsoever.
Special connection charge for off-grid systems (except the one in Schefferville)
If you have a Rate G, G9, M or MA service contract, you shouldn’t heat space and water with electricity, because it will cost you more.
In fact, if you choose to use electricity for those purposes, you wi ll have to pay, in addition to the general rates applicable north of the 53rd parallel, a “special charge for connecting to an off-grid system [PDF 2.3 MB].”
More specifically, the “special charge for connecting to an off-grid system” applies in the following cases:
- When your connection request concerns an off-grid system located north of the 53rd parallel, except the Schefferville system, and is for electricity used for heating space or water
- When a space- or water-heating system is converted to electricity
It does not apply if your connection request is for temporary use of electric heaters to dry joints and paint during construction work.
Applicable charges
The “special connection charge for off-grid systems” amounts to the following:
- $5,000 for the first 20 kilowatts (kW)
- $250 per kilowatt after that
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].
