Rate DN

If you have a Rate DN service contract, you shouldn’t heat your home and water with electricity, because it will cost you more.

In fact, if you choose to heat your home electrically, you will have to pay, in addition to charges associated with Rate DN, 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

See Section 20.1 of the Conditions of Service [PDF 2.3 MB].

The system access charge, expressed in cents per day for this rate, is a set amount that you pay for electricity service.

The amount billed for energy varies based on your consumption.

Hydro‑Québec must be able to meet its customers’ maximum power demand at all times. Even though power demand is variable throughout the year and consumption is sometimes minimal, Hydro‑Québec’s rates still have to cover the cost of operating and maintaining the power system. For this reason, it’s important that rates for large electricity consumers include billing for maximum power demand. This reflects the costs associated with meeting power demands of varying size and duration.

Calculating billing demand

The demand charge is applied to the greater of these two billing demand values:

• Maximum power demand, corresponding to the greater of these two values:
  • Real power
  • 90% of apparent power

or

• Minimum billing demand

For Rate DN, the minimum billing demand is set at 65% of the maximum power demand during a consumption period that falls wholly within the winter period included in the 12 consecutive monthly periods ending with the consumption period in question.

Hydro‑Québec grants a supply credit of 0.2736¢ per kilowatthour (kWh) to Rate DN customers to whom it supplies electricity at 5 kilovolts (kV) or higher.

Hydro‑Québec’s rates assume that electricity will be supplied at low voltage. If you have equipment to step down the voltage of the electricity delivered to you or if you use electricity at medium or high voltage, that means reduced costs for Hydro‑Québec. In return, you're granted a monthly credit.

Rate DN has a multiplier that applies to the system access charge, to the consumption at the various energy price tiers and to the base billing demand.

The multiplier depends on the type of dwelling and is established as follows:

• For apartment buildings or community residences having multiple dwellings, the multiplier corresponds to the number of units (e.g., the multiplier for a community residence consisting of 25 units is 25).
• For a community residence with both dwellings and rooms, the multiplier corresponds to the number of dwellings, plus 1 for the first 9 rooms and 1 for each additional room (for example, the multiplier for a community residence with 5 dwellings and 5 rooms is 6).
• For a rooming house or community residence with 10 rooms or more, the multiplier is 1 for the first 9 rooms, plus 1 for each additional room (for example, the multiplier for a community residence with 15 rooms is 7).