Ontario Demand Response - 2026/27 Season
Get paid up to $198,000 per MW to support the grid.
Ontario’s DR value just hit its highest level in program history — a 163% jump in a single auction cycle. Enrollment for the 2026/27 season closes March 25th. After that, the wait is a full year.
163%
increase from prior season
$198k
max earnings per MW-yea
Mar 25
enrollment deadline
Check if your facility qualifies
Takes 2 minutes. No upfront costs, ever.
No commitment. No upfront cost. An Edgecom advisor will reach out within one business day.
Trusted By Our Valued Customers
How it works
Four steps. Zero upfront cost.
Demand Response is designed to be low-lift for facility operators. Here’s what the process looks like from enrollment to payment.
How you get paid
Two payment streams. Both are yours.
DR compensation works in two layers — and the availability payment alone is significant, even if your facility is never called upon.
Availability payment
Energy payment
Combined maximum annual value for the 2026/27 season
Common questions
Everything you need to know.
If your facility can reduce its electricity load by at least 100 kW over a 4-hour period, you likely qualify. This can come from dimming or reducing lighting, shifting production to off-peak hours, pre-cooling your building, or running battery storage or backup generators. Edgecom’s team will help you identify curtailment opportunities during your assessment — even if it’s not immediately obvious.
There are no upfront costs to join the DR program. Since DR is a revenue-generating program, aggregators like Edgecom take a small percentage fee from your DR payments — meaning you never pay out of pocket, and you only pay when you earn.
DR events are called infrequently — typically during extreme grid stress in summer and winter peak periods. You are never obligated to curtail, but declining events repeatedly may affect your standing in the program. Edgecom will work with you to understand your operational limits before enrollment.
You’ll receive a Standby Notice the evening before a potential event, and a Curtailment Notice at least 2 hours before you need to reduce. Notifications come via SMS, phone call, or email — whichever you prefer. You’ll also have real-time visibility into your electricity interval data through the Edgecom platform.
The IESO Capacity Auction runs on an annual cycle. Facilities must be enrolled and positioned before the auction closes in order to participate in the 2026/27 season (May 2026–April 2027). Facilities that miss the March 25th deadline will need to wait until the next enrollment window for the 2027/28 season — at whatever auction rate the next cycle produces.
Three structural factors converged: the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station is going offline for renovations (removing over 2,000 MW from the grid), Ontario’s ability to import power from neighboring jurisdictions is shrinking, and both summer and winter are now peak demand periods due to EV and heat pump adoption. The result is a 163% jump in clearing prices from the prior season — the largest increase since the program launched.
The window closes March 25th. Your next chance is 2027.
Check if your facility qualifies
Takes 2 minutes. No upfront costs, ever.
No commitment. No upfront cost. An Edgecom advisor will reach out within one business day.
Testimonials
Loved by Our Customers
Jake Neufeld
Edgecom has been accurate right from the start. It gave us great comfort being able to see on the dashboard these projected peaks coming in.
Brandon Hastie
The amount of savings that we've had this year, we're on track to over $100,000 to $120,000 in energy savings this year.
