By Energy Probe
The Ontario Energy Board (OEB) has approved a net $21.5 million credit to Enbridge Gas customers from the utility’s 2024 deferral and variance accounts, but consumer watchdog Energy Probe warns the ruling does not go far enough to protect ratepayers from avoidable costs caused by poor utility practices.
Deferral accounts reconcile the difference between the costs and revenues used to set customer rates and actual results. While the OEB’s decision provides some relief—most of which will appear on bills starting in October 2026—Energy Probe continues to stress that stronger accountability is needed, particularly around Enbridge’s heavy reliance on estimated billing.
The largest benefit to customers stems from upstream transportation optimization, delivering roughly $33 million (90% of the upside) thanks to better-than-expected performance. The OEB also reduced excessive administrative costs in the pipeline integrity program and disallowed or deferred certain pilot project and planning costs where projects were cancelled or insufficiently justified. These actions helped to increase the net credit and limit unnecessary burdens on ratepayers.
However, the board fully approved a $6.4 million charge to customers for higher-than-allowed Unaccounted-for Gas (UFG) losses resulting from leaks, measurement errors, and other factors.
Energy Probe’s intervention focused squarely on the Unaccounted-for Gas Volume Variance Account, arguing that a substantial portion of the extra lost gas stemmed from Enbridge’s long-standing practice of relying on estimated billing when actual meter reads are not performed.
Energy Probe urged the OEB to defer part of the $6.4 million charge until Enbridge demonstrates concrete progress in addressing this persistent issue.
Although the OEB did not accept the specific proposal to defer the charge—allowing Enbridge’s position that estimates are eventually reconciled—the board explicitly acknowledged the ongoing problem. It has directed Enbridge to file a detailed report in its next deferral application outlining concrete steps to reduce reliance on estimated billing and improve actual meter reading rates.
Energy Probe views this as a partial victory for consumers.
While the immediate charge was not deferred, the intervention successfully kept the estimated billing problem front and center on the regulatory agenda and secured a transparency requirement that could deliver future relief.
Energy Probe will closely monitor Enbridge’s upcoming report and participate actively in the next review cycle to push for meaningful improvements. This will include holding the utility accountable for fixing its estimated billing issues to ensure customers are not forced to subsidize operational inefficiencies.
Energy Probe serves as the voice of the average Ontario household at the province’s big energy rate hearings. Energy Probe is an independent, non-profit group that shows up to OEB proceedings (the government body that approves, for example, natural gas delivery charges) to represent consumer interests—focusing on keeping costs fair, avoiding unnecessary subsidies or waste, and making sure decisions are based on real economics rather than politics or special interests.
The Ontario Energy Board’s decision on an application filed by Enbridge Gas Inc. on October 30, 2025, under section 36 of the Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998—available to download below.