What London Hydro actually does (and why your bill says "London Hydro" at the top)
Ontario's electricity market is structured very differently from Alberta's, and London Hydro is a textbook example. London Hydro wears two hats at once: it is the distributor that owns the poles, overhead and underground lines, transformers, substations and meters across the entire City of London, AND it is your default supplier under Ontario's Standard Supply Service (SSS) rules. The bill that arrives at your home in Byron, Westmount, Old North or White Oaks covers both jobs.
The per-kWh rate London Hydro charges most residential and small-business customers is set by the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) twice a year in its Regulated Price Plan (RPP), with three structures to choose from: Time-of-Use, Tiered or Ultra-Low Overnight. Long-term fixed-rate retailer contracts are legal in Ontario but a niche market, and signing one does not change the delivery, regulatory or Global Adjustment lines on your bill, only the commodity portion. The wires that bring electricity to your London address belong to London Hydro regardless.
- Owns the wires, transformers, smart meters
- Restores power after outages (24/7 dispatch)
- Sends the monthly bill at the OEB's RPP rate
- Fixed by address: every London property is served by London Hydro
- Replaces the commodity portion of the bill only
- Door-to-door sales banned (ECPA 2010)
- Delivery + Global Adjustment + regulatory unchanged
- London Hydro still owns the wires and meter
Many older London neighbourhoods (Old North, Old South, Wortley Village, Carling-Talbot) have rear-lot service: the meter and service entry sit on a back-alley pole instead of the street-facing wall. If you are renovating, your electrician needs to flag this early because moving from rear-lot to front-lot service is a London-Hydro-led civil job, not a simple permit swap.
Where London Hydro delivers power
In plain words: if you live or run a business inside the City of London (from Byron and Lambeth in the south-west to Stoneybrook and Masonville in the north, and Argyle in the east), London Hydro is your distributor. There is no overlap and no choice. The boundary follows the City of London's municipal limits exactly.
- •Downtown London, the financial core and Western University campus
- •Byron, Westmount, Lambeth, White Oaks (south & west)
- •Masonville, Stoneybrook, Hyde Park (north)
- •Every residential, commercial and industrial address inside the City of London boundary
- •St. Thomas, Strathroy-Caradoc, Parkhill, Dutton, Newbury → Entegrus Powerlines
- •Aylmer, Port Stanley, Embro, Tavistock, Mitchell, Goderich → ERTH Power
- •Sarnia, Petrolia, Watford → Bluewater Power
- •Rural Middlesex County → Hydro One Networks
Not sure which one applies to your address? Check your most recent electricity bill: the distributor's name and OEB licence number are printed at the top of the first page.
How London Hydro's charges appear on your bill
An Ontario electricity bill is broken into a handful of distinct line items, all of which appear on the same London Hydro invoice. Unlike Alberta, where the commodity is billed separately by your retailer, in Ontario almost every household sees a single integrated bill where London Hydro acts as both the wires company and the OEB-default supplier.
The per-kWh rate set by the OEB twice a year in the Regulated Price Plan. You pick one of three structures: Time-of-Use (peak/mid/off-peak), Tiered (low- and high-block) or Ultra-Low Overnight (for EV owners).
Funds the difference between the market price and the long-term contracts the IESO signed for nuclear, hydro, wind, solar and conservation. RPP customers see this rolled into the commodity rate; bigger customers see it as its own line.
The cost of moving electricity from the IESO-controlled grid through London Hydro's wires to your meter. Includes a fixed monthly service charge plus a per-kWh distribution rate set by the OEB.
Small line covering OEB programs, the Wholesale Market Service Rate and a few other system-wide charges. Set by the OEB and applied uniformly across Ontario LDCs.
A provincial credit that reduces the pre-tax subtotal by a percentage set by the government (currently around 13 %). Applied automatically to eligible residential, farm and small-business accounts.
The 13 % federal-provincial sales tax applied to the post-rebate subtotal. Cannot be avoided; appears at the bottom of the bill.
London Hydro's delivery rate is approved by the OEB through periodic rate applications under the Renewed Regulatory Framework. Rates are filed publicly on the OEB's eFiling portal and can be examined line by line by any customer or consumer advocate. London Hydro is consistently the lowest cost-per-customer of the twelve largest Ontario electricity distributors in the OEB's benchmarking, a result of its compact urban footprint and disciplined capital programme.
A practical implication: if a licensed retailer offers a low fixed per-kWh rate, you will still pay the same London Hydro delivery and regulatory charges, the same Global Adjustment, the same HST. Switching retailers changes the commodity portion of your bill; switching never changes London Hydro's portion.
Peak (4-7pm), mid-peak, off-peak. Best for households that can shift heavy use to evenings and weekends.
A low block for the first ~600 kWh per month (residential), a higher block above. Best for steady, modest users.
Very cheap from 11pm to 7am, much more expensive 4-9pm. Best for EV owners or anyone who can charge overnight.
Contact details: two numbers, one utility
London Hydro separates its 24/7 outage and emergency line from its business-hours customer service line. The emergency number is staffed continuously; the customer service number handles billing, moves, account changes and new connections during regular business hours.
Outages, downed wires, forestry emergencies. For a downed live wire, call 911 first.
Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (excluding statutory holidays)
111 Horton Street
P.O. Box 2700
London, ON N6A 4H6
MyLondonHydro with bill view, usage data and outage alerts
Text and email alerts via MyLondonHydro
For non-urgent questions you can also use London Hydro's online tools: the live outage map, the outage hub, or the My Account portal at https://www.londonhydro.com. London Hydro consistently ranks among the most cost-efficient distributors in Ontario and benchmarks customer satisfaction every year through the OEB scorecard.
Report a power outage
If your power is out, the fastest path is to call 519-661-5555 or report it on the outage hub. Live restoration estimates are published on the outage map (updated every minute). MyLondonHydro can also push restoration text alerts directly to your phone.
Call 519-661-5555, use the outage hub, or rely on MyLondonHydro text alerts. Have your address and account number ready.
The system pinpoints which feeder, transformer or substation is affected and assigns a crew or pole patrol.
Estimated restoration time appears on the live outage map. Single faults in London: often within minutes to about an hour. Storm-wide events take longer.
Power is verified at the smart meter. Reset clocks, check freezer contents, and report any damage right away via London Hydro's claims process.
Reliability in plain words
London Hydro reports its reliability performance to the OEB every year in its public scorecard. The two headline metrics are SAIDI (average hours a customer was off in a year) and SAIFI (average number of interruptions per customer per year). London Hydro's results historically sit in line with or better than the OEB's distributor-specific targets, helped by a compact urban network with no significant rural feeders. The full year-by-year scorecard is available on the OEB's distributor-scorecard registry.
Planned outages for maintenance are normally posted at least 48 hours in advance, by mail or notice to affected addresses and on the outage hub. If you depend on medical equipment, register with London Hydro's priority-notification program so you are flagged before any planned interruption.
New connection or service upgrade
For a new build, a service upgrade (e.g. moving from 100 A to 200 A for an EV charger or heat pump), a temporary construction service, or any work that requires changes to the physical wires or meter, you deal with London Hydro. Start at https://www.londonhydro.com or call 519-661-5503. Routine residential connections target the OEB's 5-business-day standard once all conditions are met.
The civic address and the legal description of the lot inside the City of London.
A sketch showing where you want the meter, service entrance, and run-back to the pole. London also asks about rear-lot vs front-lot service.
The amperage (100 A, 200 A, 400 A…) and voltage you need, signed off by your Master Electrician.
An Electrical Safety Authority permit and ESA sign-off once the in-house wiring is done. London Hydro cannot energise until ESA clears it.
For routine residential connections once all conditions are met. Complex builds or service upgrades that require civil work can run several months.
Fixed component + per-metre charge above the contribution threshold defined in London Hydro's Conditions of Service.
Once the wires are in, your account opens automatically under Standard Supply Service at the OEB's Regulated Price Plan rate. You can switch your RPP structure (Time-of-Use, Tiered or Ultra-Low Overnight) at any time by contacting London Hydro. If you sign with a licensed retailer later, the retailer registers their contract with London Hydro and the commodity rate is replaced on your next bill cycle.
Moving home, transferring or closing a service
In London, the move-in / move-out conversation starts with London Hydro directly, not with a separate retailer. Because London Hydro is the default supplier, it closes the old billing account, sets up the new one, and triggers the final meter read. If you have a licensed retailer contract you also notify the retailer separately so they can transfer or cancel their commodity supply. Most move requests need at least 1 to 2 business days of notice; 5 is safer for end-of-month moves and Western University September turnover.
Call 519-661-5503 (or use MyLondonHydro online). Give them the move date and your new address.
1 to 2 business days minimum; allow 5 for month-end and student-turnover moves. Same-day service is rare.
On the move-out date, London Hydro records the final reading remotely from the smart meter; no in-person visit required.
London Hydro issues a closing bill for the period up to the move-out date. The new address bill starts under a fresh account.
Administrative transfer only. No physical work, no service interruption. Your RPP structure (TOU, Tiered, ULO) carries over by default; ask London Hydro if you want to change it at the new address.
Opening a fresh account is required at the new LDC. Common destinations from London include Entegrus Powerlines (St. Thomas, Strathroy), ERTH Power (Aylmer, Port Stanley) and Hydro One Networks (rural Middlesex County).
Meters, meter reading and accuracy
London Hydro owns the meter at your address. Since the province-wide smart-meter rollout was completed in 2010-2011, virtually every London residential and small-business address is equipped with a smart meter that supports the OEB's Time-of-Use pricing structure. The meter is the basis for both the consumption side of your bill and the choice between TOU, Tiered or Ultra-Low Overnight RPP structures. London Hydro is also a national leader on Green Button data sharing through MyLondonHydro.
Every London residential address. Consumption reports back to London Hydro automatically; no action from you, no estimated bills.
London Hydro pulls the meter and tests it on a calibrated bench against Measurement Canada's tolerance.
London Hydro is a Green Button Alliance member. Download your hour-by-hour data via MyLondonHydro or pipe it into an authorised third-party energy app.
If the meter reads outside Measurement Canada's tolerance (typically ±2 %), the test is free and you get a billing adjustment back to the date the fault is presumed to have started. If the meter passes, the test fee is charged to you at the OEB-approved tariff rate.
What do you need to do with London Hydro?
Pick an action. The tool shows the right phone, the right link, and what to expect. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Note: under AUC Rule 002, Alberta distributors are not required to pay automatic compensation for outages. Damage claims are evaluated case-by-case on negligence.
Compensation and damage claims: the honest version
Ontario has no automatic, statutory compensation scheme for individual customers affected by a power outage. Unlike the UK's Ofgem Guaranteed Standards, the OEB's role is to require London Hydro to report its reliability performance (SAIDI, SAIFI) every year in its public scorecard. Penalties for under-performance flow from the regulator to the distributor; they do not arrive in your mailbox as a credit.
If your fridge or freezer contents spoiled, an appliance was damaged by a voltage surge, or you incurred a clear loss during an outage, you can file a damage claim with London Hydro (Attn: CLAIMS, 111 Horton Street). The claim is evaluated on negligence.
- +Equipment failure (transformer, network switch)
- +Crew error during work on the network
- +Switching incident causing voltage spike
- +Unplanned, distributor-caused service interruption
- ×Severe weather (lightning, wind, ice storms)
- ×Wildlife contact (squirrels, raccoons on lines)
- ×Third-party contact (vehicle hits pole, dig-in)
- ×Planned outages notified in advance
Most London home insurance policies cover food spoilage and surge damage at a low excess. If your loss is meaningful, the insurance route is usually faster than a denied utility claim. Keep dated receipts and photos either way. They are the only basis on which any claim can be evaluated.
Regulator and complaint escalation
If you cannot resolve something directly with London Hydro, there is a clear escalation ladder in Ontario. The Ontario Energy Board sits at the top as both the economic regulator and the body that handles consumer complaints; the Electrical Safety Authority covers physical-safety issues.
Sets the Regulated Price Plan, approves London Hydro's distribution tariff and reviews service-quality reporting (scorecards). Also runs the OEB Consumer Protection Office for individual disputes.
Administers Ontario Regulation 22/04, audits London Hydro's distribution-asset safety practices and tracks the Serious Electrical Incident Index. Issues electrical permits for in-house wiring.
Most issues resolve here. Phone 519-661-5503 (Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.) or use the MyLondonHydro portal.
If the front line cannot fix it, request a written decision in writing. This creates the paper trail needed for the next step.
The OEB investigates complaints involving Ontario LDCs, retailers and unit sub-meter providers. The service is free.
Last resort. For tariff or service-quality issues you can intervene as a registered intervenor in a rate proceeding. For damage claims that are denied, civil court is the final route.