Living in Oakville
Electricity, water, gas, stormwater and waste each come from a different provider. Who supplies what.
Oakville Hydro supplies electricity and also sends the water and wastewater bill, using rates Halton Region sets. Natural gas is Enbridge Gas. The Town charges stormwater on the tax bill, and the Region collects waste. Internet and phone are private companies. Put electricity and gas in your name before move-in day.
Oakville Hydro, the Town's local distribution company, is the only electricity distributor for Oakville.
Oakville Hydro delivers electricity to Oakville homes and businesses and issues the bill. Customer care is at 905-825-9400 or customerservice@oakvillehydro.com, Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; the office is at 861 Redwood Square. The same bill also carries Halton Region's water and wastewater charges.
Apply to Oakville Hydro at least five business days before your closing or lease date to avoid a possible gap in power. You need the name to be billed, the service address, the date you need power, a mailing address if different, owner or tenant details, lawyer information, a phone number, an email address, a signature and one piece of identification. There is a $30.00 plus HST set-up fee, and Oakville Hydro does not collect deposits from residential customers. If you are moving within Oakville, it closes the old account and connects the new one.
The fee and notice period are as the page states today. Confirm them when you apply.
Give Oakville Hydro at least five business days' notice. It arranges a final meter reading, asks where to send the final bill and, on request, provides a letter of reference for your next electricity supplier. The same account carries water and wastewater charges, so the final reading covers both.
First check whether only your home or the whole neighbourhood is dark, then call Oakville Hydro at 905-825-9400. The outage map at oakvilleoutages.ca shows current and scheduled outages and the last 24 hours, filterable by ward. Customers can opt in to text-message outage alerts from the settings in the Oakville Hydro app or the notifications section of the MyOakvilleHydro portal.
Oakville Hydro's contact page lists the 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekday hours for general inquiries and gives one number for outages. It does not publish a separate after-hours outage line.
Options are automatic withdrawal (a Basic Plan or an Equal Payment Plan), online banking through your financial institution, credit card through Kubra EZ-Pay (a 1.75 per cent fee applies and the page says to allow three to five days), mail with the return envelope sent three to five days before the due date, or the drop box outside 861 Redwood Square. Paperless billing is free through a MyOakvilleHydro account, and customers have 23 days to pay once the bill is ready.
The Ontario Energy Board sets electricity prices once a year, on November 1, for residential and small-business customers on Time-of-Use (TOU), Ultra-Low Overnight (ULO) and Tiered plans. TOU has off-peak, mid-peak and on-peak periods. ULO has four periods, with an ultra-low overnight rate, and the periods stay the same all year. On Tiered pricing the residential threshold is 1,000 kWh a month in winter (November 1 to April 30) and 600 kWh in summer (May 1 to October 31). To switch, complete an election form or call 905-825-9400. If you do nothing, your plan does not change.
Oakville Hydro shows the actual prices as images that change each November 1 and May 1, so this answer gives the structure, not the prices. Its page currently shows the May 1 to October 31, 2026 hours and prices.
Oakville Hydro lists three programs. The Ontario Electricity Rebate, 23.5 per cent as of November 1, 2025, is applied automatically to eligible residential and small-business bills. The Ontario Electricity Support Program gives a monthly credit of $35 to $75 on the bill, or $52 to $113 for Indigenous customers, electric heating or electricity-intensive medical devices. The Low-Income Energy Assistance Program can give a grant of up to $650 a year ($780 for electrically heated homes) to an account in arrears; its agent is at 905-257-6029. Oakville Hydro takes questions at 905-825-9400.
Amounts and eligibility are as Oakville Hydro publishes them now and are set by the Province and the Ontario Energy Board.
Halton Region supplies and prices water. Oakville Hydro bills it.
Halton Region supplies drinking water and treats wastewater for Oakville, and sets the rates. It bills through the local hydro utility, so in Oakville the water and wastewater charges appear on your Oakville Hydro bill and are paid through the same account. Residential meters are read and billed every two months. There is no separate Regional water account to open.
Effective January 1, 2026, a home with a 20 mm or smaller meter pays a combined fixed service charge of $40.67 a month plus $3.3441 per cubic metre (1,000 litres) of water used. The Region's example for a household using 38 cubic metres in two months, about the Halton average, is $208.42 for the two-month bill. Larger meters pay higher fixed charges, listed on the Region's rate card.
Rates change each January 1. The Region says the 2026 combined rate rose 6.0 per cent.
The Region says property owners are responsible for all water charges on their property, including a tenant's use. An owner can assign a third party such as a tenant or property manager to hold the account, but unpaid water and wastewater charges can still be added to the property tax bill and collected from the owner. When property changes hands, ask Oakville Hydro for the final meter reading and transfer information, which includes unpaid charges and known compliance issues. If you do not, balances and compliance issues transfer to the buyer.
Whether a tenant pays the owner for water is set by the lease, which the Region's pages do not cover.
Halton is replacing analog meters with a wireless system, called Advanced Metering Infrastructure, that sends readings to the Region six times a day so no one has to visit to read them. For Oakville the Region lists a pilot starting mid-2026 and a full roll-out starting in 2026, with upgrades through 2026 and 2027. Everyone gets a letter first, and the Region says to wait for it before acting. Its contractor is KTI Utility Services (1-833-543-8807). A replacement needs an adult 18 or older at home, takes 30 to 60 minutes and shuts the water off for 15 to 20 minutes; a transmitter-only visit needs no one home. Technicians carry Halton Region photo ID, wear KTI uniforms and drive vehicles marked with Halton Region Contractor magnets, and the Region says they never enter without an appointment. For a leaking, noisy or malfunctioning meter, email accesshalton@halton.ca or call 311.
The Region does not publish a street-by-street Oakville schedule on the page; the notice letter and the Region's project map are the source.
The Region says an average Halton household uses about 38 cubic metres every two months and the most common cause of high use, apart from seasonal watering, is an undetected leak such as a running toilet. Read the meter, usually next to the main shut-off in the basement or crawl space, with no water in use; if the low-flow indicator or sweep hand moves, there may be a leak. If you cannot explain the use, email accesshalton@halton.ca for a meter-testing form. The test is done by a third party and takes up to four weeks. The 2026 average fee for a small residential meter is $1,000 to $1,200, refunded if the meter over-registers by more than 2 per cent.
Keep paying the account while a test is under way, or set up a payment agreement; the Region asks for this.
The Region is responsible for the service line from the watermain under the street up to and including the curb stop, usually just outside the property line. The owner is responsible from the curb stop into the home, all indoor plumbing, and keeping the meter from freezing. If only some fixtures have no water, the Region says the problem is probably inside and to call a licensed plumber; if none do, the service line may be frozen, so call 311 and clear snow from the curb box. Thawing is free if the frozen section is on Region property; if it is only on private property, the 2026 fee is $663.05 for a 15 to 25 mm line.
Condominium and townhouse complexes may have jointly owned lines beyond the curb stop; check with the property manager.
If anyone is in danger, call 911. Keep people and pets away from wastewater, shut off electricity only if water is near outlets or the panel and it is safe, and do not use toilets or sinks until the source of the backup is known. Take photos and video, then report to Halton Region: online for a rainfall event, or at 311 for a dry-weather flood. Report flooding on a street or road to the Town. Tell your insurer. The Region offers a $1,000 Residential Basement Flooding Grant to eligible owners and tenants for a storm-induced wastewater surcharge or a blockage on the Region's side, if the flood was reported to the Region and the application is made within one year.
The Region says staff do not make in-home visits during extreme weather and rely on the online form. Tap water stays safe to drink during a flood, as the drinking water system is separate.
Yes. The Basement Flooding Prevention Subsidy Program covers work such as a backwater valve, downspout disconnection, exterior storm drain disconnection, sewer lateral lining and repair, and weeping tile disconnection with a sump pump. A free Household Drainage Survey is offered to homes built from the mid-1950s to the late 1970s that have reported flooding from a wastewater surcharge and sit in a Region-defined priority area; ask at hhds@halton.ca or 311. Other homes need an assessment by a licensed plumber, whose cost can be counted in the subsidy. Read the homeowner guide before starting work.
Subsidy amounts and rules are in the Region's program guides and can change; this page does not repeat dollar limits.
In 2026 the Town of Oakville introduced a dedicated stormwater fee. It appears on the property tax bill under Special Charges and replaces the part of property taxes that used to pay for stormwater. For homes it is a fixed annual amount by home type, phased in at 50 per cent in 2026, 75 per cent in 2027 and 100 per cent in 2028. The 2026 amounts are $137 for a detached home, $64 for a semi-detached home and $30 for a townhome, condo or apartment. Full rates are $273, $128 and $60. It does not depend on pools, paving or rain barrels. A lookup tool shows the fee for an address, and a review can be requested if the property type is wrong.
The rates are set by by-law and may be updated by Council. Non-residential properties pay by hard surface area on a different phase-in.
Enbridge Gas is the natural gas distributor for Oakville. If the home has gas heat, a gas water heater or a gas stove, open or transfer an Enbridge account when you move. Not every home uses gas; some are all-electric. Billing and general questions are at 1-877-362-7434, Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., closed holidays.
Submit your move online through Enbridge's Move, Change or Close your Service page, which says it takes two to five minutes. You need your new address, and your move-in and move-out dates. Moving to a new property brings a one-time New Account Charge on the first bill and a new account number, and Enbridge recommends changing the account number in your bank's bill-payment settings after your first bill so payments apply correctly. If the property does not have gas installed, use Enbridge's Connect to Gas page; an expansion surcharge may apply depending on the address.
Life-threatening situations are 911 first.
Leave the area immediately, leaving doors and windows open if you can do so without delay, and from a safe place call Enbridge Gas's 24-hour emergency line at 1-866-763-5427 or 911. Enbridge says not to use phones, switches or electronics where you smell gas, not to smoke, not to turn lights or appliances on or off, not to start a vehicle nearby and not to search for or repair the leak. If gas is burning, call 911 and do not try to put it out. A carbon monoxide alarm does not detect natural gas leaks.
Stay back and call 911 and Oakville Hydro at 905-825-9400. Oakville Hydro's powerline safety page says to keep 10 metres (33 feet, about the length of a school bus) away, and to keep at least 3 metres from overhead lines when working near them. Do not go near electrical equipment in standing water or enter a flooded basement because of the risk of electrocution.
Oakville Hydro's outage page quotes a three-metre distance for downed lines; its powerline safety page says 10 metres. Use the larger distance.
Halton Region. It runs emergency water service 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for watermain breaks, sudden loss of water pressure, leaks at your water meter, tap water quality concerns, frozen service lines and basement flooding. Call 311, or 905-825-6000 from outside Halton. Repairs or replacements inside your property boundary are the owner's cost. If a break creates a risk of contamination, the Medical Officer of Health can issue a boil water advisory, which the Region announces by letter, automated call, halton.ca, social media and the 311 centre.
Halton Region, not the Town, runs waste collection: garbage, recycling, the green cart and yard waste, on a schedule set by address. The Region has an online collection schedule, a missed-collection report for any stream, and a page on the coming wheeled-cart program. OakvilleIQ's garbage and recycling guide sets out the rules in detail.
Internet, TV and phone come from private telecommunications companies. The Town, the Region and Oakville Hydro do not supply them; Halton Region describes Bell, Rogers and Telus as examples of the private telecoms that run local networks. Which technology and speeds reach your address varies, so check availability for the exact address and ask the building or the previous resident what is already wired. OakvilleIQ does not endorse a provider.
Halton Region's page names examples only. No official Oakville page lists every provider or coverage by address.
First apply to Oakville Hydro, at least five business days before your closing or lease date; that one account also carries water and wastewater. If you are buying, ask Oakville Hydro through your lawyer for the final meter reading and transfer information. Next, if the home has gas, submit your move to Enbridge Gas online. Arrange internet early, since installation can take time. Look up your first garbage and recycling day on the Region's schedule. Owners should also tell the Town about the ownership change for property tax. Renters should confirm from the lease who pays water and which utilities are included.
Oakville Hydro says "five days" in one place and "five business days" in another on its move-in page; apply earlier if you can.
Give Oakville Hydro at least five business days' notice for a final reading of both electricity and water, close or transfer your Enbridge Gas account through its online move page, and cancel internet and phone with those providers. Provide forwarding addresses for the final bills. If you are selling, the Region says to request the final water meter reading and transfer information from Oakville Hydro, otherwise outstanding balances can pass to the buyer.
Oakville Hydro
Oakville Hydro: contact usOakville Hydro
Oakville Hydro: move inOakville Hydro
Oakville Hydro: move outOakville Hydro
Oakville Hydro: if the power goes outOakville Hydro
Oakville Hydro: payment optionsOakville Hydro
Oakville Hydro: residential electricity ratesOakville Hydro
Oakville Hydro: assistance programsHalton Region
Water bills, rates and feesHalton Region
2026 water and wastewater ratesHalton Region
Property owners and tenantsHalton Region
Water metersHalton Region
Frozen water pipesHalton Region
Flood response and reportingHalton Region
Flood preparedness and reducing your riskTown of Oakville
Stormwater feeEnbridge Gas
Enbridge Gas: contact us (Ontario)Enbridge Gas
Enbridge Gas: move, change or close your serviceEnbridge Gas
Smell natural gas? What to do right awayOakville Hydro
Oakville Hydro: powerline safetyHalton Region
Recycling and wasteHalton Region
Halton Digital Access Municipal Services Corporation