What makes up a Barrie natural gas bill, and who sets each part?

Who supplies natural gas in Barrie?

Enbridge Gas Inc. Enbridge has served Barrie since 1957 and holds a 20-year franchise agreement with the City that took effect on April 7, 2014. In February 2025 the Ontario Energy Board replaced several older certificates with a single certificate for the city as now constituted, noting that "there are no other natural gas distributors within the certificate area". Enbridge's application put its Barrie customers at about 50,750. In July 2026 the Board issued a further decision on Enbridge's application for certificates covering Barrie, Oro-Medonte and Springwater (EB-2026-0134); the text of that decision was not reviewed for this page.

Which rate zone? Enbridge charges different rates in different parts of Ontario. This page uses the Enbridge Gas Distribution (EGD) rate zone, and that is an inference, not something a document states. The 2014 franchise was granted to Enbridge Gas Distribution Inc., which amalgamated with Union Gas Limited on January 1, 2019 to form Enbridge Gas Inc., and the Board's rate sheets for the EGD zone carry that company's name. No Board or Enbridge document reviewed lists Barrie by rate zone; a Barrie gas bill would confirm it.

Sources: Decision and Order EB-2024-0298: Enbridge Gas Inc., Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for the City of Barrie, Ontario Energy Board, dated February 6, 2025. Original document. Grants Enbridge Gas a single certificate for the city as now constituted. Application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity, City of Barrie (EB-2024-0298), Enbridge Gas Inc. (filing to the Ontario Energy Board), dated October 8, 2024. Original document. Paragraph 2: "Enbridge Gas currently serves approximately 50,750 customers in the City of Barrie." Application for the Renewal of the Franchise Agreement, City of Barrie (EB-2013-0441), Enbridge Gas Distribution Inc. (filing to the Ontario Energy Board), dated December 20, 2013. Original document. The applicant for Barrie's 2014 franchise renewal is Enbridge Gas Distribution Inc. That is the basis for this site's inference that Barrie is in Enbridge's EGD (Enbridge Gas Distribution) rate zone. Backgrounder: Decision and Order, EB-2022-0200 Phase 1, Enbridge Gas Inc. 2024-2028 rates, Ontario Energy Board, dated December 21, 2023. Original document. Staff summary of the decision, not the reasons for decision. Footnote 2 dates the Enbridge Gas Distribution and Union Gas amalgamation to January 1, 2019. Letter of Direction, EB-2026-0134: certificates for the City of Barrie, the Township of Oro-Medonte and the Township of Springwater, Ontario Energy Board, dated July 21, 2026. Original document. The OEB's covering letter of July 21, 2026: the Board has issued its Decision and Order on Enbridge Gas's application for certificates for Barrie, Oro-Medonte and Springwater, and directs Enbridge to serve it on the three municipalities. The decision itself was not retrieved. Enbridge Gas residential rate sheets, Enbridge Gas Distribution (EGD) rate zone, January 2014 to October 2026 (51 quarterly notices), Ontario Energy Board. Original document. 51 notices, each linked from the OEB's historical natural gas rates page. The April 1, 2025 sheet shows the federal carbon charge going to zero, an annual decrease of $366.00 at 2,400 m3. The page links no notice for July 2018 (it has no entry for that quarter) or July 2020. Backgrounders on Enbridge Gas quarterly rate changes, June 2024 to September 2026 (EB-2024-0166 through EB-2026-0221), Ontario Energy Board. Original document. Ten backgrounders; the link is the latest, dated September 24, 2026. Table 1 of each gives the typical annual bill in the EGD rate zone at 2,400 m3 a year; the OEB does not say whether HST is included. All retrieved October 7, 2026.

What is on the bill, and who sets each line?

• Customer charge: running the account — meter reading, customer service, equipment maintenance, emergency response. It is charged even in a month with no gas used.
• Delivery to you: Enbridge's local distribution system, including its operating and capital costs and a regulated rate of return. The rate falls by volume block, from the first 30 m³ a month to everything above 170 m³. For Enbridge customers, storage is included here. The Board adjusts it once a year by a pre-set, inflation-based formula.
• Transportation to Enbridge: moving gas from Western Canada and the United States to Ontario.
• Gas supply charge: the gas itself, bought on the open market and passed through without a markup.
• Cost adjustment: on this sheet, gas supply (−0.3661¢), transportation (0.3634¢) and delivery (0.5349¢) parts. The gas supply part settles the gap between forecast and actual gas costs.
• Facility carbon charge: the carbon charge Enbridge pays on emissions from the gas used in its own operations, shown within "Delivery to you" on the bill.
• Federal carbon charge: eliminated April 1, 2025.
• Rate adjustment: a one-time clearance of Enbridge's 2024 utility earnings and deferral and variance accounts.

A household that buys its gas from an energy retailer pays the price in its contract instead of the gas supply charge; the Board does not regulate that price. The October 2026 rates were approved on an interim basis, at Enbridge's request.

The fixed part has grown. The customer charge was $20.00 a month from January 2014 until July 2019, when it became $21.00; it has been $27.69 since January 2026. The first-block delivery rate was 8.2943¢ per m³ in January 2014 and is 14.2691¢ now.

This site's arithmetic on the October 2026 figures: twelve months of the customer charge come to $332.28, about a third of the $999.95 typical bill. The gas itself, at the effective supply price of 9.1080¢ per m³ over 2,400 m³, comes to about $218.59, about a fifth. The Board does not publish a line-by-line split of the typical bill, so the share for delivery and transportation is not worked out here.

Sources: Enbridge Gas residential rate sheets, Enbridge Gas Distribution (EGD) rate zone, January 2014 to October 2026 (51 quarterly notices), Ontario Energy Board. Original document. 51 notices, each linked from the OEB's historical natural gas rates page. The April 1, 2025 sheet shows the federal carbon charge going to zero, an annual decrease of $366.00 at 2,400 m3. The page links no notice for July 2018 (it has no entry for that quarter) or July 2020. Understanding your natural gas bill, Ontario Energy Board. Original document. What each line of a natural gas bill covers, and who approves it. Backgrounders on Enbridge Gas quarterly rate changes, June 2024 to September 2026 (EB-2024-0166 through EB-2026-0221), Ontario Energy Board. Original document. Ten backgrounders; the link is the latest, dated September 24, 2026. Table 1 of each gives the typical annual bill in the EGD rate zone at 2,400 m3 a year; the OEB does not say whether HST is included. All retrieved October 7, 2026.

What has the gas itself cost since 2006?

On the Board's quarterly table the price was 41.19¢ per m³ in January 2006, the highest figure in the table, and 38.15¢ in July 2008. In 2022 it reached 27.90¢, in October. The lowest figure in the table is 7.11¢, in January 2025; from October 1, 2026 it is 9.1080¢.

Prices from late 2021 into 2022 were smoothed by a rate mitigation plan. Over its October 2021 and January 2022 rate changes Enbridge deferred recovery of $455 million in gas costs. For April 2022 the Board approved Enbridge's plan to recover the balance over 24 months instead of the usual 12, so that no rate zone's total annual bill would rise by more than 10%. That plan recovers about $336 million, leaving about $119 million for a later rate change.

Sources: Historical natural gas rates, Ontario Energy Board. Original document. The "Enbridge Gas" table (EGD rate zone), quarterly, January 2006 to October 2026; it has no July 2018 entry. Backgrounder: The Rising Market Price of Natural Gas: Helping to Manage Cost Increases for Many Customers Across Ontario, Ontario Energy Board, dated March 30, 2022. Original document. Enbridge deferred $173 million (October 2021) and $282 million (January 2022), a $455 million balance in its Purchased Gas Variance Account. The approved plan recovers about $336 million of it over 24 months, as much as possible without raising any rate zone's total annual bill by more than 10%, and leaves about $119 million for a later quarterly rate change. All retrieved October 7, 2026.

What does a typical household pay in a year?

The largest change in the series was on April 1, 2025: down $222.24, or 17.4%, the quarter the federal carbon charge ended. From July 2025 on, it has stayed between $973.80 and $1,049.64. The 2,400 m³ figure is the Board's typical use for the whole EGD zone, not a Barrie measurement; no Barrie-specific figure was found.

Source: Backgrounders on Enbridge Gas quarterly rate changes, June 2024 to September 2026 (EB-2024-0166 through EB-2026-0221), Ontario Energy Board. Original document. Ten backgrounders; the link is the latest, dated September 24, 2026. Table 1 of each gives the typical annual bill in the EGD rate zone at 2,400 m3 a year; the OEB does not say whether HST is included. Retrieved October 7, 2026.

What did the federal carbon charge add, and what changed when it ended?

The charge rose each April, from 3.91¢ per m³ in 2019–20 to 15.25¢ in 2024–25. When it went to zero on April 1, 2025, the EGD rate sheet showed a decrease of $366.00 a year for a typical customer, which is 15.25¢ times 2,400 m³. The Canada Revenue Agency describes the change as regulations "setting all fuel charge rates to zero". Bills still showed the charge for gas used up to March 31, 2025.

Before the federal charge, the rate sheets carried a cap-and-trade charge: 3.3518¢ per m³ on every sheet from January 2017 through April 2018. By October 2018 it was zero, with a 1.4176¢ clearance charge in its place.

Sources: Enbridge Gas residential rate sheets, Enbridge Gas Distribution (EGD) rate zone, January 2014 to October 2026 (51 quarterly notices), Ontario Energy Board. Original document. 51 notices, each linked from the OEB's historical natural gas rates page. The April 1, 2025 sheet shows the federal carbon charge going to zero, an annual decrease of $366.00 at 2,400 m3. The page links no notice for July 2018 (it has no entry for that quarter) or July 2020. Fuel charge rates, Canada Revenue Agency. Original document. The charted rates are taken from the OEB rate sheets, which give the same figures. This schedule sets all fuel charge rates to zero from April 1, 2025. Understanding your natural gas bill, Ontario Energy Board. Original document. What each line of a natural gas bill covers, and who approves it. All retrieved October 7, 2026.

Who decides what a new gas connection costs?

The Province, since 2024. The cost of a new gas connection turns partly on a "revenue horizon": in the Ontario Energy Board Act's words, "the number of years of presumed revenue" used to decide whether a new connection is economically feasible, and how much, if anything, the customer must contribute toward building it.

On December 21, 2023, the Ontario Energy Board decided, by majority, that for small-volume customer connections Enbridge's revenue horizon would be cut from 40 years to zero, effective January 1, 2025, "thus reducing stranded asset risk to zero". Projects under the current phase of the Natural Gas Expansion Program were excluded. One Commissioner dissented on this point alone, finding a 20-year horizon appropriate. In the same decision the Board cut Enbridge's proposed 2024 capital budget by $250 million.

Before that change took effect, the Legislature added section 36.0.1 to the Ontario Energy Board Act (S.O. 2024, c. 10), in force July 1, 2024. It says the revenue horizon "shall be the number of years specified by the regulations", and that the Board "shall not make any determinations respecting revenue horizons" except through a hearing the regulations provide for. Ontario Regulation 273/24 sets the number at 40 years for consumers forecast to use less than 50,000 m³ of gas a year, and 20 years for others. Both the section and the regulation are set to end on January 1, 2029, or earlier by proclamation.

These are decisions of the Board and the Legislature, not of council. Ontario Regulation 24/19, which lists the gas-expansion projects that qualify for compensation under the Act, names no project in Barrie.

Sources: Backgrounder: Decision and Order, EB-2022-0200 Phase 1, Enbridge Gas Inc. 2024-2028 rates, Ontario Energy Board, dated December 21, 2023. Original document. Staff summary of the decision, not the reasons for decision. Footnote 2 dates the Enbridge Gas Distribution and Union Gas amalgamation to January 1, 2019. Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998, S.O. 1998, c. 15, Sched. B, section 36.0.1 (Revenue horizon (natural gas)), Government of Ontario (e-Laws). Original document. Section 36.0.1 was enacted by S.O. 2024, c. 10, s. 5 (1), in force July 1, 2024. Ontario Regulation 273/24, Revenue Horizon (Natural Gas), Government of Ontario (e-Laws). Original document. Section 1: 40 years for consumers forecast to use less than 50,000 m3 of gas a year; 20 years for others. Consolidated from July 1, 2024; revoked January 1, 2029 or earlier by proclamation. Ontario Regulation 24/19, Expansion of Natural Gas Distribution Systems, Government of Ontario (e-Laws). Original document. Lists the projects whose investments qualify for compensation under section 36.2 of the Act. No Barrie project; the only Simcoe County entry is Severn (Washago). All retrieved October 7, 2026.

How many Barrie-area homes heat with natural gas?

Natural gas is the main heating energy for most Barrie-area households: 82% in 2013 and 81% in 2023, against 62% and 58% for Ontario. The survey cannot say much about the alternatives in Barrie. Electricity is published only for 2013 (13%) and 2021 (24%), both flagged "use with caution"; heat pumps, oil and propane are marked "too unreliable to be published" in every year.

Source: Table 38-10-0286-01, Primary heating systems and type of energy (Households and the Environment Survey), Statistics Canada. Original document. Barrie census metropolitan area (DGUID 2016S0503568) and Ontario, per cent of all households, every two years from 2013 to 2023. Retrieved October 7, 2026.

What do the City's own climate plans say about gas?

The community plan (2022). On March 28, 2022, council endorsed in principle the Community Energy and Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Plan (22-G-055). It aims to cut community emissions 45% below 2018 levels by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050. In its 2018 baseline, natural gas was 33% of the community's fuel use, and residential buildings used 6,452,600 GJ of energy, cost $126.5 million and produced 285,300 tonnes of emissions. The plan names two key actions which, if accelerated, would put the community on a better path to net zero; one is "incorporating a natural gas phase out within the Deep Energy Efficiency Retrofit program". That retrofit program's considerations include "Prioritizing the adoption of heat pumps".

The City's own operations (2025). On June 18, 2025, council adopted 25-G-166, endorsing the Corporate Net Zero Strategy 2025–2050 in principle. The recommendation adds that low-carbon options be recommended when corporate assets are renewed "when lifecycle payback offsets the incremental cost". The strategy's NZ0 Pathway, which would cut the City's own emissions 53% below the 2022 baseline before corporate-wide measures are applied, includes: "Heating in buildings is transitioned from natural gas to electric."

Gas-fired power (2021). On March 22, 2021, council adopted 21-G-052, asking the Province to place an interim cap of 2.5 megatonnes a year on greenhouse gas from Ontario's gas-fired power plants and to "develop and implement a plan to phase-out all gas-fired electricity generation by 2030". That resolution concerns electricity generation, not home heating; see electricity.

Sources: General Committee Minutes, March 21, 2022, City of Barrie — General Committee, dated March 21, 2022. Original document. 22-G-055, Community Energy and Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Plan. Retrieved October 7, 2026. City Council Minutes, March 28, 2022, City of Barrie — City Council, dated March 28, 2022. Original document. 22-G-055 adopted in Section "D" of the General Committee Report of March 21, 2022. Retrieved October 7, 2026. Inspiring Climate Action in Barrie, Part 1 (Community Energy and Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Plan), City of Barrie (prepared by LURA Consulting, ICLEI Canada and Wood). Original document. Endorsed in principle by council March 28, 2022 (22-G-055). Retrieved October 7, 2026. Inspiring Climate Action in Barrie, Part 2: Big Moves, City of Barrie (prepared by LURA Consulting, ICLEI Canada and Wood). Original document. Strategy 1, Deep Energy Efficiency Retrofit Program; and Strategy 19, Nature-Based Solutions, which lists "Setting a target for Barrie's urban canopy cover" among possible actions. Retrieved October 7, 2026. Finance and Responsible Governance Committee Minutes, June 4, 2025, City of Barrie — Finance and Responsible Governance Committee, dated June 4, 2025. Original document. Corporate Net Zero Strategy 2025-2050; adopted by council June 18, 2025 as 25-G-166. Retrieved October 7, 2026. City Council Minutes, June 18, 2025 (Final), City of Barrie — City Council, dated June 18, 2025. Original document. Passes By-law 2025-070, altering the ward boundaries and repealing By-law 2013-134 (item 25-G-172). The same meeting adopts the General Committee report that includes 25-G-166, the Corporate Net Zero Strategy 2025-2050, and records two 9-0 votes, with two members absent: 25-G-177, the South Barrie Mixed Use Recreation Complex and Library, and 25-G-178, the Barrie Performing Arts and Event Centre design development. Retrieved August 9, 2026. Corporate Net-Zero Strategy 2025-2050, City of Barrie. Original document. The City's own operations, 2022 baseline: 100,270 MWh of energy, 38,500 tonnes CO2e (61% from the landfill's decomposing waste); the wastewater plant's two 250 kW biogas co-generation engines, one run at a time. Serves as the five-year conservation plan required by O. Reg. 25/23. Retrieved October 7, 2026. City Building Committee Minutes, March 2, 2021, City of Barrie — City Building Committee, dated March 2, 2021. Original document. Recommends asking the Province to cap greenhouse gas from Ontario's gas-fired power plants at 2.5 megatonnes a year and to plan a phase-out of gas-fired electricity generation by 2030; council adopted it as 21-G-052. Retrieved October 7, 2026. City Council Minutes, March 22, 2021, City of Barrie — City Council, dated March 22, 2021. Original document. 21-G-052, adopted in Section "B" of the Second General Committee Report of March 8, 2021. Retrieved October 7, 2026.

What can council actually decide?

• Council decides: how the City heats and fuels its own buildings and fleet; whether to approve a renewed franchise agreement with Enbridge when the current 20-year agreement ends (the Ontario Energy Board must also approve it); what community programs, such as the retrofit program in its climate plan, to fund; and what to ask of other governments.
• Council does not decide: the price of gas (the market, passed through under the Ontario Energy Board's quarterly approvals); the customer, delivery and other Enbridge charges (the Board); pipeline tolls (the Canada Energy Regulator); the carbon charge (the federal government, zero since April 2025); the revenue horizon for new connections (the Province, through O. Reg. 273/24); or who may distribute gas in the city (the Board's certificate).