Bill 95 explained in plain English
Protecting Vulnerable Energy Consumers Act, 2017
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
The Protecting Vulnerable Energy Consumers Act, 2017, allows the Ontario Energy Board to set rules preventing disconnection of energy services to vulnerable consumers during certain times.
Bill 95, the Protecting Vulnerable Energy Consumers Act, 2017, amends the Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998. It grants the Ontario Energy Board the authority to establish rules and licence conditions that prevent the disconnection of gas or electricity to low-volume consumers during specific periods. The Act also clarifies that rules and licence conditions made under this legislation prevail in cases of conflict with the Public Utilities Act and the Electricity Act, 1998, respectively.
- Amends the Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998 to give the Ontario Energy Board the power to make rules about when gas can be disconnected from low-volume consumers.
- Amends the Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998 to give the Ontario Energy Board the power to make licence conditions about when electricity can be disconnected from low-volume consumers.
- States that rules made by the Ontario Energy Board under this Act will take precedence over conflicting provisions in section 59 of the Public Utilities Act.
- States that licence conditions made by the Ontario Energy Board under this Act will take precedence over conflicting provisions in section 31 of the Electricity Act, 1998.
- Low-volume energy consumers
- The Ontario Energy Board
- Gas distributors
- Electricity distributors
- The Ontario Energy Board has the right to make rules and licence conditions regarding disconnection periods for low-volume consumers.
- Gas distribution rules made by the Ontario Energy Board prevail over conflicting provisions in the Public Utilities Act.
- Electricity disconnection licence conditions set by the Ontario Energy Board prevail over conflicting provisions in the Electricity Act, 1998.
- This Act came into force on February 22, 2017, the day it received Royal Assent.
- The definition of 'low-volume consumer' is referenced but not provided within this bill text; it is defined in section 47 of the Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998.
- The specific periods during which disconnection may not occur for low-volume consumers are not detailed in this bill, but would be set by the Ontario Energy Board through rules and licence conditions.
Grants the Ontario Energy Board the power to create rules and licence conditions that prohibit the disconnection of gas or electricity to low-volume consumers during specified periods. It also amends section 44 and section 70 of the Act to establish rules regarding disconnection and to address conflicts with other legislation.
Source: Sections 1 and 2
Clarifies that rules made by the Ontario Energy Board regarding the stopping of gas distribution under the Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998, will prevail over any conflicting provisions in section 59 of the Public Utilities Act.
Source: Section 1 (2)
Clarifies that licence conditions set by the Ontario Energy Board regarding the disconnection of electricity supply under the Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998, will prevail over any conflicting provisions in section 31 of the Electricity Act, 1998.
Source: Section 2 (2)
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
Official textProcess Snapshot
Vote Summary
This bill does not have a published recorded division in the current official sources, so representative-by-representative vote counts are not shown.
No published representative vote breakdown
The current official sources do not publish a recorded division breakdown for this bill, so there is no representative-by-representative table to show.
Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
How this data is sourced