Electric Vehicle Charging Rate
If you own or operate a commercial electric vehicle (EV) charging station, you may be eligible for the new Electric Vehicle Charging (EVC) Rate.
The EVC Rate is an electricity delivery rate designed specifically for eligible EV charging stations in Ontario to better reflect the transmission costs of serving EV chargers with low load factors. It reduces the Retail Transmission Service Rates (RTSRs) paid by participating EV charging stations.
When does the ECV rate come into effect?
The EVC rate will come into effect May 1, 2026. Customers may choose to opt in prior to May 1, 2026, using the opt-in form below.
Who is eligible for the EVC Rate?
EV charging stations must meet all the following criteria to participate in the EVC Rate:
- Have at least one Direct Current Fast Charger,
- Ensure that at least 90% of total monthly peak demand is attributable to EV charging,
- Have a monthly peak demand between 50 kW and 4,999 kW,
- Have a 12-month average load factor of 20% or less,
- Must not primarily serve commercial/public sector EV fleets, and
- Any distributed energy resource behind the account’s meter must not exceed the station’s annual peak demand.
Who is considered a “customer” under the EVC Rate?
A “customer” refers to the owner or operator of an EV charging station whose facilities are connected to or are intended to be connected to an electricity distributor’s distribution system. A customer is not the end-user of the EV charging service, such as the driver of a vehicle that uses the EV charging station.
How is the EVC Rate calculated?
The EVC Rate reduces the RTSRs that participating EV charging stations would otherwise pay. RTSRs are part of the electricity bill.
Participating customers will pay 17% of the RTSR that other customers in a distributor’s General Service 50 kW to 4,999 kW class will pay. In other words, if a customer’s base RTSR is $100/kW, it would instead pay $17/kW under the EVC Rate.
The EVC Rate better aligns the RTSRs paid by participating EV charging stations with the transmission system costs incurred to serve them.
How do I apply for the EVC Rate?
You must submit an opt-in form to ORPC.
Download the Opt-In Form for Electric Vehicle Charging Rate
Have more questions?
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Electric Vehicle Charging (EVC) Rate?
The EVC Rate is a specialized electricity delivery rate designed for eligible Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations in Ontario. It reduces the Retail Transmission Service Rates (RTSRs) that participating EV charging stations pay. The Ontario Energy Board (OEB) introduced the EVC Rate to support the efficient integration of EV charging infrastructure and to better reflect the causality of low load factor EV chargers towards the transmission costs to be recovered from customers. The EVC Rate responds to direction from the Minister of Energy (now the Minister of Energy and Mines) to the OEB to consider rate design options for Electric Vehicle (EV) charging.
How is the EVC Rate calculated?
Electricity distributors will use the EVC Rate to reduce the base RTSRs that participating EV charging stations would otherwise pay.
The EVC Rate is a numerical parameter that the OEB will provide to electricity distributors. The value of the EVC Rate parameter is 0.17.
A customer’s total monthly RTSR payment under the EVC Rate will be calculated by multiplying the EVC Rate (0.17) by the base RTSR (including the network RTSR and the transformation and line connection RTSR) and then by the customer’s billing period peak demand (kW). Participating customers will pay 17% of the base RTSR that other customers in a distributor’s applicable General Service 50 kW to 4,999 kW classes will pay.
Do all electricity distributors have to offer the EVC Rate?
Yes, all rate-regulated electricity distributors in Ontario must make the EVC Rate available to eligible customers.
Are electricity distributors required to create new rate classes for EV charging stations?
No. When the EVC Rate is implemented in 2026, EV charging stations will remain within the applicable general service rate classes established by their electricity distributor (e.g., General Service 50 kW – 4,999 kW).
Where can I find more information about the EVC Rate?
More information about the EVC Rate can be found in the EVC Rate overview document that the OEB published on March 31, 2025. The document is available on the OEB’s Electric Vehicle Integration webpage.
How can a customer know whether no more than 10% of their monthly peak demand comes from auxiliary loads if there is only one meter on the site (i.e., if auxiliary loads are not separately metered)?
Customers are encouraged to apply their best judgment to measure or estimate the peak demands associated with their auxiliary loads compared to the peak demands of their EV chargers. Where a comparison of peak demands is not possible, customers may compare the overall capacity ratings of their auxiliary equipment with the peak demands of their EV chargers.
As a customer interested in opting into the EVC Rate, how can I calculate my EV charging station’s 12-monthly load factor when I don’t have 12 months of historical load data yet?
Where possible, customers opting into the EVC Rate should rely on their historical load data and on forecasts to calculate a reasonable expectation for a forward-looking 12-month average load factor. Where historical load data is not available, customers should base their attestation that they meet the EVC Rate load factor eligibility requirement on a reasonable forecast of their load factors.
I own a car dealership that includes a Direct Current Fast Charger for my customers’ use. Do I qualify for the EVC Rate?
One of the eligibility requirements is that at least 90% of the account’s total monthly peak demand must relate to electric vehicle charging. Assuming there is one account for the entire dealership including the charging station, it is unlikely that requirement would be met – more than 10% of the total monthly peak demand would likely relate to non-charging activities such as lighting and cooling the dealership.