LONDON, ONT. -- Gord Fansher, like many people, had to change during the pandemic.

"Both my wife and I work from home," Fansher says, with that comes a greater demand on electricity.

"We’ve been using a lot of hydro during that peak time."

With the return to time-of-use electricity rates in the province, prices are also rising. 

As of Sunday, the price per kilowatt hour for 'Off Peak' hours will rise from 6.5 cents at this time last year to 10.6 cents.

'Mid Peak' time will increase to 15 cents, and 'On Peak'’ jumps to 21.7. 

But, you will now have the option of changing to a new tiered-pricing model, which charges you based on volume. For the first 1,000 kilowatts you will be charged at 12.6 cents, anything over that will be charged at 14.6 cents a kilowatt. 

London Hydro CEO Vinay Sharma says they did some preliminary research and found most would benefit from the switch. 

"What we found is out of 140,000, roughly 120,000 would save some money on being on tiered price."

If you’ve registered an account on London Hydro’s website you can log in and see a comparison of your current bill, if you were to switch.

Sharma admits the savings aren’t massive, "Like on my account it is showing me $2.50 per month that I’ll save. And any saving is a saving indeed."

For families like Fansher's who are now working from home, or kids are schooling from home, the possibility of high ‘On Peak’ usage is a reality. Which is why he decided to make the switch.

"So I think that’s probably the best option, when I look at the costing of it, because there’s been an increase in the hydro on the other side," he says.

The tiered pricing will allow you to use hydro at any time of the day for the same price, and if you find that it isn’t saving you money, you can switch back at any time, but you will have to wait until your next billing cycle for the changes to take effect.