Save up to 20% on your winter electricity bill
From December 1 to March 31, Rate Flex D offers savings on your electricity bill. To take full advantage of it, simply take steps to use electricity more wisely during winter peak periods!
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Rate Flex D at a glance
How does Rate Flex D save me money? What do I need to do? This short video will answer all your questions.
Running time: 1 min 39 s
How does Rate Flex D work?
With Rate Flex D, you can save quite a bit of money, since most of the time in winter, you’ll be charged less than the base rate, except during occasional peak demand events, when you’ll be charged more than the base rate.
Rate Flex D is different from the base rate (Rate D). This is how it works:
- In winter,
- Outside peak demand events, i.e., during more than 95% of the season, the price of electricity is below the base rate.
- During peak demand events, i.e., during 5% of the season at most, the price of electricity is higher than the base rate.
- The rest of the year, Rate D (base rate) prices apply.
Peak demand events
- Peak demand events can take place Monday to Friday from December 1 to March 31, from 6 to 9 a.m. and from 4 to 8 p.m.
- There may be 25 to 33 events per winter, at most, for a maximum of 100 hours in all. The number of hours of peak demand events may vary from one winter to the next, depending on the demand forecast, which fluctuates according to the weather and the state of the grid.
- How much you save will vary based on the number of peak event hours accumulated during the winter.
- The day before a peak demand event, you’ll be notified by email before 5 p.m. (as well as on the mobile app if requested).
Doing the right thing at the right time
To maximize your savings with Rate Flex D, the trick is to reduce your energy use during peak events by turning down your thermostats at the start of a peak event and delaying your use of hot water until the event is over.
A tool that lets you track your results
To see the results of your energy‑saving efforts, use the Energy Performance Indicator in your Customer Space, which lets you track:
- How much you’ve saved
- Your energy use during peak demand events and outside peak events, by the day and by the hour
- The total number of hours of peak demand events to date as well as the number of days of the winter period that have elapsed
- Upcoming events for which you have received a notification
- History of previous winters
Eligibility
Rate Flex D is for Rate D (base rate) customers who are able to use less electricity during peak demand events or shift their nonessential electricity consumption to outside of those periods.
- A Rate D service contract
- An electrical installation supplied by the main grid rather than by an off-grid system
- A communicating meter ;
- A Customer Space with a valid email address (for peak demand event notifications)
In addition, you must not:
- Be signed up for any other rate options
- Have canceled a Rate Flex D contract during the previous winter period
- Dwellings for which the electricity is metered separately in most cases
- Farms: Land, buildings and equipment used to raise crops or livestock, excluding any commercial activity or industrial activity
See our eligibility criteria regarding domestic rates for farms [PDF 583 kb] - Apartment buildings for which the electricity is metered separately or in bulk if the apartment building was built after April 1, 2008
- Community residences consisting of individual units (separate metering)
- Community residences (9 rooms or less)
- Rooming houses (9 rooms or less)
- Bed and breakfasts (9 rooms or less)
- Foster families or foster homes (9 people or less)
- Tourist homes (separate metering)
- Residential outbuildings, that is, any buildings or installations belonging to premises used for habitation purposes
- used exclusively by the persons occupying the dwelling or apartment building
- used exclusively for purposes related to those of the dwelling or apartment building
- Portion of electricity used for purposes other than habitation (installed capacity 10 kilowatts (kW) or less)
Save up to 20% on your winter electricity bill
FAQs
With Rate Flex D, you save all winter long because you benefit from a lower price than the base rate (Rate D) for 95% of the period. The cost of electricity only goes up during peak demand events, so those are the best times to reduce your consumption. When there are no peak demand events, your savings will increase every day until the end of the season, on March 31.
That's why the savings you see in your customer space vary every day during the period from December 1 to March 31.
No later than 5 p.m. the day before a peak demand event, Hydro‑Québec will email you at the address listed in your Customer Space to notify you of the event start and end times. You can also opt to receive peak demand event notifications through the Hydro‑Québec mobile app. All peak demand event notifications will also be posted in your Customer Space.
Hydro-Québec cannot be held responsible for nonreceipt of a notification due to the failure of equipment belonging to you or your telecommunications provider.
There is no pre-established threshold, but the temperature is an important factor.
Peak demand events are scheduled when we anticipate high demand for electricity in Québec in winter. That’s the main consideration. It’s true that on cold days everyone uses a lot of energy at the same time, so the temperature has an impact on demand forecasts. However, demand isn’t always the same for a given temperature. For example, if it is −10°C for several days in a row, demand for electricity will be greater on the last day than on the first.
Other factors that affect the forecasted demand have to do with operating constraints related to electricity supply as well as power transmission and distribution. To manage power demand, Hydro-Québec diligently applies all the means at its disposal, including dynamic pricing.
Peak demand events can take place weekdays from December 1 to March 31, from 6 to 9 a.m. and from 4 to 8 p.m., excluding December 24, 25, 26 and 31, and January 1 and 2, as well as Good Friday and Easter Monday when they fall within the winter period.
- Maximum number of events per day: 2 events
- Minimum interval between 2 events: 7 hours
- Duration of an event: 3 or 4 hours
- Maximum total duration of events in the winter period: 100 hours
You can sign up for Rate Flex D for next season once the billing period covering April 1 is over and up to December 31.
You can cancel a Rate Flex D service contract at any time by calling Hydro‑Québec’s customer services. Your contract will then become subject to Rate D (base rate), if it is still eligible, or to any other rate for which it is eligible.
Hydro‑Québec reserves the right to terminate your service contract at this rate if there are recurring problems in gathering hourly metering data.
Under no circumstances shall the information provided here replace the Electricity Rates.
More information
To find out more about Rate Flex D, see Section 9 of Chapter 2 of the Electricity Rates [PDF 1.44 MB].
Off‑grid system
An “off‑grid system” is a power system not connected to Hydro‑Québec’s main grid.
Separate metering
Method of measuring energy consumed with a separate meter for each residential or commercial unit in a building.
Bulk metering
Method of measuring energy consumed with a single meter instead of separate meters for an entire multiunit commercial or residential building. The building owner is responsible for dividing the costs between the occupants.