The short version: the Rate of Last Resort is the default electricity rate every Alberta address falls onto if the customer has not signed a contract with a competitive retailer. It replaced the old Regulated Rate Option in 2025. It uses a smoothed purchasing window so the bill does not spike with every wholesale-market move — but it still moves.

The belief the RoLR was created to fix

"The default rate is always close to the wholesale price, so it is always a fair benchmark." That assumption was reasonable in calm years and devastating in 2022 and 2023, when wholesale spikes flowed straight through to household bills under the old RRO. Households on the regulated default saw bills double in cold months. Politically and economically, that was unsustainable. The reform was designed to break the lockstep — and it did.

The flip side is that RoLR no longer behaves like a thermometer for the live wholesale market. When the pool price drops, RoLR drops more gradually. When the pool price spikes, RoLR holds steadier. That is the point, but it changes how you should think about comparing offers against RoLR.

How the RoLR price is actually built

Three ingredients combine into the monthly RoLR posted price.

  1. A procurement schedule. The default supplier buys electricity for RoLR customers over a defined window — months ahead of consumption, not the same day. This is the smoothing mechanism.
  2. An expected delivery cost. The cost includes wholesale energy purchased under that schedule, plus hedging instruments that lock in price ranges for known volumes.
  3. An administrative margin. The AUC approves a small per-kWh margin that lets the default supplier recover its costs of running the RoLR programme. This is regulated and disclosed.

The final monthly price is the sum, presented as cents per kWh. The default supplier varies by service area — ENMAX Energy for Calgary, EPCOR Energy Alberta for Edmonton, Direct Energy Regulated Services for ATCO Electric and FortisAlberta territory, and the City of Lethbridge / Red Deer / Cardston / Ponoka for their municipals.

Tool: estimate your RoLR bill from your usage

Plug in your monthly kWh and the current RoLR posted for your area. The tool returns the energy portion of your bill — not the total, because delivery is a separate stack.

Typical: 600 to 900 for a house, 250 to 400 for an apartment. Your bill shows your last 12 months.

Look up your area\'s current RoLR on the UCA website. It changes each month.

Monthly energy charge
$

Energy only — delivery, riders, GST add on top.

Annualised energy
$

Useful for comparing against a 12-month fixed contract.

The non-obvious thing about comparing RoLR to a fixed offer

A retailer will show you a fixed rate at, say, 9.5 cents per kWh and contrast it with "this month\'s RoLR of 13 cents". That comparison is misleading two ways. First, RoLR moves — what looks like 13 cents this month could be 8 cents next year. Second, the right comparison is not against one month of RoLR but against the rolling average of RoLR over your contract term.

Most households who sign because of a single-month comparison end up regretting it within a year. The honest comparison is the fix versus the 24-month trailing average of RoLR, applied to your actual usage. If the fix wins by enough to cover the risk of being wrong, sign. Otherwise, stay on RoLR and revisit when forward prices change materially.

What this means for your household

  1. RoLR is the default. You will be on it unless you actively sign a competitive contract.
  2. Check the current RoLR for your area at least once a quarter on the UCA website.
  3. When comparing offers, use the rolling RoLR average — not the latest single month.
  4. The reform took most of the monthly volatility out of RoLR. You will still see seasonal shifts, but not the spikes of 2022.

Frequently asked questions

If you never signed an electricity contract with a competitive retailer, you are on the RoLR by default. The retailer line on your bill will name your service area's default supplier — ENMAX Energy in Calgary, EPCOR Energy Alberta in Edmonton, Direct Energy Regulated Services in much of the rest of the province, City of Lethbridge for Lethbridge, and equivalent local entities elsewhere.
Sometimes. RoLR is designed to track market reality on a smoothed basis. In a market where forward prices are stable, a one- or two-year fixed contract may be close to RoLR. In a market where forwards are climbing, a fix can save money. In a market where forwards are falling, RoLR catches the upside.
No. RoLR exists precisely so that no household is ever without a supplier. Even if every competitive retailer dropped you, you would land on the RoLR automatically.
Through an AUC-approved process. Default suppliers procure electricity over a smoothing window and pass through the cost plus an administrative margin. The exact mechanics are documented in the AUC's decision establishing RoLR.
Yes. The Regulated Rate Option (RRO) was rebuilt and renamed in 2025 to address the monthly volatility that caused household bill shocks during 2022 and 2023. The new RoLR uses a longer purchasing window and built-in hedging.