Ontario Energy Board Announces Phased Approach To Implementing Capacity Information Maps

The Ontario Energy Board ("OEB") has announced its plan to move ahead with implementing capacity information maps for licensed electricity distributors in a recent letter to the industry ("OEB Letter").

The OEB will take a phased approach to implementation, beginning with Phase 1, which has an expected completion date of March 3, 2025. At a minimum, distributors will be expected to publish capacity information at both station and feeder levels, and remaining capacity should be calculated based on the annual summer or winter peak of the station or feeder.

In establishing this new requirement, the OEB hopes to remove barriers for electric vehicle ("EV") charging station deployment, particularly with site selection and planning, to ensure Ontario's readiness for the sector's expected growth. In this article, we discuss the reasons for implementation and provide an overview of each phase.