Learn · Electricity plans

The default rate resets in 2027.

Alberta quietly replaced the monthly Regulated Rate Option with a two-year Rate of Last Resort. It has been frozen since January 2025 and can move up to 10% on January 1, 2027. If you have never picked a retailer, this is your rate.

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The Rate of Last Resort is what Alberta charges for electricity when you have not chosen a retailer. It is set for two-year terms, currently 12.01¢ per kWh across most of the province for January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2026, and at the reset on January 1, 2027 it can rise or fall by at most 10%. That puts the next term somewhere between 10.81¢ and 13.21¢. A competitive fixed rate today is 6.76¢.

The rate today

Frozen through December 31, 2026.

Each distribution area has a regulated provider that posts the Rate of Last Resort. The figures below are read from the Utilities Consumer Advocate's page and refreshed daily.

Distribution area	Rate of Last Resort	Range after the 2027 reset
ATCO Electric	12.02¢/kWh	10.82¢ to 13.22¢
ENMAX Power Corporation	12.06¢/kWh	10.85¢ to 13.27¢
EPCOR Distribution	12.01¢/kWh	10.81¢ to 13.21¢
FortisAlberta Inc.	12.01¢/kWh	10.81¢ to 13.21¢
FLUX Fixed, 1 year	6.76¢/kWh	Secured for the term

Energy charge only. Delivery, riders, the administration charge, and GST apply on top with every provider. Term: January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2026.

How it works now

Not the RRO. A different animal.

The old Regulated Rate Option followed the wholesale market every month, which is why bills on it swung so hard in 2022 and 2023. The Rate of Last Resort was designed to stop the swings. It also stops the drops.

Two-year terms

The rate is set for a two-year term, not recalculated every month. The current term runs January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2026. The next runs January 1, 2027 to December 31, 2028.

A 10% cap at each reset

After each term the rate can be adjusted by at most 10% in either direction. That is the only scheduled way it moves.

One exception

The Market Surveillance Administrator reports on the rate every six months. A breach forces a rate reopener within 30 days, and a reopener is exempt from the 10% cap. It is the only mid-term path.

An expiry date

The regulation itself expires on December 31, 2028. What replaces it has not been set.

Before January 1

Waiting for the reset is a bet with a small upside.

The best case for someone on the Rate of Last Resort is a 10% cut in January: 12.01¢ becomes about 10.81¢. The worst case is a 10% rise to about 13.21¢, fixed for two years. Either way it stays well above a competitive fixed rate, because the default rate is built to cover the regulated provider's costs and risk, not to compete.

Leaving it is a paperwork change, not a construction project. Your distribution company keeps the wires and the meter, your outage number does not change, and the delivery charges on the bill are identical whoever sells you the energy. Our guide to switching retailers in Alberta walks through it, including the 10-day cooling-off period.

One honest caveat: this page is about electricity. The regulated natural gas rate is a monthly pass-through with no markup, and it often sits below any fixed gas offer. Gas savings come from what you pay a retailer today, not from the regulated rate. The savings calculator handles both fuels properly.

Questions people are asking

The Rate of Last Resort, answered straight.

It is Alberta's default electricity rate, the price you pay if you have never signed a contract with a competitive retailer. Since January 1, 2026 it has been called the Rate of Last Resort. Before that, the same role was played by the Regulated Rate Option, which reset every month.

Same role, different mechanism. The RRO changed every month with the wholesale market. The Rate of Last Resort is fixed for two-year terms under Alberta Regulation 262/2005, as amended by Regulation 166/2024, and can only move by up to 10% at each reset.

January 1, 2027. The current term is frozen through December 31, 2026. The new term runs to December 31, 2028.

By regulation, at most 10% at the reset. On a 12.01 cent rate that is a ceiling of about 13.21 cents and a floor of about 10.81 cents. Nobody knows the actual figure until the regulated providers post it ahead of the new term.

If you have never chosen an electricity retailer, or a previous contract ended and you did nothing, you are almost certainly on it. Your bill will name the regulated provider for your area rather than a competitive retailer.

Sign up with a competitive retailer. Switching changes only who bills you for the energy; your wires, meter, and outage service stay with your distribution company. See our guide to switching retailers in Alberta.

No. The regulated natural gas rate is a monthly pass-through of the market cost with no markup, and it moves every month. Nothing on this page compares gas rates.

Rates are read from the Utilities Consumer Advocate's regulated rates page and refreshed daily. The two-year term, the 10% cap, the Market Surveillance Administrator reopener, and the December 31, 2028 expiry are set out in Alberta Regulation 262/2005 (the Regulated Rate Option Regulation) as amended by Alberta Regulation 166/2024 under the Electric Utilities Act. FLUX rates are our posted rate card as of the day this page was rendered.

Before the reset

Pick your rate. Don't be assigned one.

A competitive fixed rate today, secured for the term, with no exit fee if you ever leave.

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