New GTA Homeowner’s Guide to the Bills That Keep Coming: Electricity, Water, Gas & Property Tax
Just closed on your first Ontario home? Here’s how to set up, read, and pay the four recurring bills.
What recurring bills does a new homeowner in Ontario have to pay after closing?
An Ontario home has four core recurring bills: electricity (priced under rules set by the Ontario Energy Board and delivered by your local utility, e.g. Toronto Hydro or Alectra), water (billed by your municipality based on usage), natural gas (supplied by Enbridge Gas across most of the GTA, for heat and hot water), and property tax (set by your municipality as MPAC’s assessed value times the tax rate).
Source: Ontario Energy Board / City of Toronto / MPAC (2025)
When you get the keys, the thing new owners most often overlook isn’t renovations — it’s the bills that keep arriving. As a GTA real estate broker, I get this question constantly, especially from newcomers: who runs electricity, water, gas and tax, and how do I set them up and read them? Here’s all four in one place.
→
→
→
First: who runs which bill
Many new owners assume ‘utilities’ come from one company. In fact it’s four separate systems. Electricity: the price is regulated by the Ontario Energy Board (OEB), but the company that physically delivers power and bills you is your local distributor (Toronto Hydro downtown; Alectra across much of Peel and York). Water: billed by your municipality, by usage. Natural gas: almost always Enbridge Gas in the GTA, for heating and hot water. Property tax: levied by your municipality. Each has its own billing cycle and payment setup — you have to arrange them separately.
On closing day: open or transfer each account
⚠️Electricity and gas accounts do not transfer automatically with title. After closing, actively open or transfer them into your name, or the bill may stay with the seller — or service could be interrupted.
Electricity: choose a price plan first
• Time-of-Use (TOU): priced by when you use power — on-peak, mid-peak, off-peak. This is the default.
• Tiered: one price up to a monthly threshold, a higher price above it; time of day doesn’t matter.
• Ultra-Low Overnight (ULO): a very low overnight rate (11 p.m.–7 a.m. every day), good for EV charging or heavy overnight use, but a high weekday on-peak rate. According to the Ontario Energy Board (OEB), for prices effective November 1, 2025: TOU off-peak is 9.8¢, mid-peak 15.7¢, on-peak 20.3¢/kWh; ULO overnight is just 3.9¢/kWh, but the weekday 4–9 p.m. on-peak reaches 39.1¢/kWh.
💡 Match the plan to how your household actually uses power: nobody home during the day and heavy evening use → TOU or ULO usually wins; an EV you can charge on a timer overnight → ULO is often cheapest; steady, unpredictable usage → Tiered is simpler. According to the Ontario Energy Board (OEB), the Tiered threshold is 1,000 kWh per month in winter (Nov 1–Apr 30) and 600 kWh in summer (May 1–Oct 31); consumption above it is billed at the higher Tier 2 price.
ℹ️Tip: you can ask your distributor to switch between TOU, Tiered and ULO at any time; the change usually takes effect from your next billing cycle. Watch two or three months of your own usage before committing — you don’t have to pick on day one.
Reading the electricity bill: more than just kWh
Your bill isn’t only the energy you used. Beyond the electricity price above, there’s a Delivery charge — the cost of moving power to your home, part fixed monthly and part usage-based — plus Regulatory Charges. So even a very frugal month still carries fixed costs that don’t drop to zero. When you read the bill, check the kWh used against the plan you’re on; if it looks abnormally high, call your distributor to verify.
Water: billed by the city, by usage, often quarterly
Natural gas: in the GTA, that means Enbridge
💡 On carbon: according to Enbridge Gas, the federal carbon charge was removed from natural gas bills effective April 1, 2025. A very small facility carbon charge remains inside the ‘Delivery to You’ line — about 32–35 cents per year for the average residential customer — so it’s effectively negligible.
Property tax: MPAC’s assessed value times the tax rate
🚨Unpaid property tax accrues interest that compounds monthly, and long-term arrears can lead the city to place a tax lien on the property. Pre-authorized payment or rolling it into your mortgage is the safest route.
How to pay: pre-authorized, budget billing, or through your mortgage
Frequently Asked Questions
After I close, do my electricity and gas accounts transfer to me automatically?
No. Your lawyer handles title, but you must contact your local hydro utility and Enbridge yourself to open or transfer the account, giving your closing date and address. Call a week or two before closing so service isn’t interrupted and the bill doesn’t stay in the seller’s name.
Which electricity plan should I choose — TOU, Tiered, or ULO?
It depends on when you use power. Empty house by day and heavy evening use → TOU or ULO tends to win; an EV you can charge overnight on a timer → ULO is often cheapest (per the OEB, the overnight rate effective Nov 1, 2025 is just 3.9¢/kWh); unpredictable usage and you want simplicity → Tiered. You can request a switch at any time.
How is my property tax calculated?
The formula is MPAC’s assessed value × the current municipal tax rate. According to the City of Toronto (2025), the 2026 assessed value still uses the January 1, 2016 valuation, and Toronto’s 2025 total residential rate was 0.754087%. The tax comes as an interim bill and a final bill each year.
Can I pay property tax through my mortgage?
Yes. Many lenders let you fold property tax into your monthly mortgage payment (a ‘PIT’ arrangement) and remit it for you, which saves you tracking due dates — but you give up direct control of that portion of your cash flow. Alternatively you can pay the city’s installments yourself.
Why is my natural gas bill so high in winter?
In GTA homes, gas is mostly used for heating, so in winter the furnace runs far longer and your gas usage (cubic metres) rises sharply, pushing up the supply portion of the bill. You can ask Enbridge for ‘budget billing’ to spread the annual cost evenly across months and avoid a winter spike.
Arthur Zhao
Real Estate Broker · FRI · ABR · SRS · PSA · MCNE · E-PRO · CLHMS & GUILD Elite · REAIS
VP & Branch Manager, Bay Street Group Inc.
Get expert answers on buying, selling, and renting in the GTA
Discover more from GTA Real Estate Broker | Arthur Zhao
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
