Bright Savings: How Solar Lowers the Global Adjustment for Ontario Businesses

If you run a commercial facility or manufacturing plant in Ontario, you already know that keeping the lights on and the machinery running isn’t cheap. Electricity bills can be a major operational headache, primarily driven by a heavy regulatory charge known as the Global Adjustment (GA).

The GA covers the cost of building Ontario’s energy infrastructure, maintaining the power grid, and funding long-term energy contracts. Because this fee often makes up the largest portion of a commercial electricity bill, managing it is essential to protecting your bottom line.

However, Ontario’s electricity market divides commercial consumers into two distinct camps for GA billing: Class A and Class B. To maximize your return on investment, you need a tailored commercial solar solution engineered specifically for how your billing class interacts with the grid.

Here is how forward-thinking Ontario manufacturers are using targeted solar engineering to rewrite their balance sheets.

1. Class A Customers: Slicing the Peak GA Fees

Class A includes large industrial and commercial consumers—typically those with a monthly peak demand over 1 megawatt (MW), or select manufacturers with a peak demand over 500 kilowatts (kW).

For these businesses, GA fees aren’t based on the total volume of energy used throughout the month. Instead, they are calculated using a Peak Demand Factor (PDF). The province tracks the top five hours of the highest overall grid demand during the entire year. A Class A customer’s GA bill for the following twelve months is determined entirely by how much power they drew from the grid during those exact five hours.

How Commercial Solar Shaves the Peak

Ontario’s critical grid peaks almost always happen on blistering summer afternoons when commercial air conditioners and industrial lines are working overtime. Fortunately, this is exactly when solar panels operate at maximum capacity.

By utilizing behind-the-meter commercial solar installations, a Class A facility generates its own power right when the provincial grid is under maximum stress. Safely lowering your grid demand during just one of those critical five peak hours can slash hundreds of thousands of dollars off your Global Adjustment fees for the next year.

 

Pro Tip for Class A: Because Ontario’s weather can be unpredictable, pairing a commercial solar array with an on-site battery storage system ensures you can drop your grid load instantly whenever a peak alert is issued—rain or shine.

Class A in Action: The SCHÜTZ Canada Case Study

To see the staggering financial velocity of a Class A solar strategy, look no further than global packaging leader SCHÜTZ Canada Inc. in Belleville, Ontario.

                       SCHÜTZ CANADA CASE STUDY
┌───────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Facility Location         │ Belleville, Ontario (2025 Install)       │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ System Size               │ 1,584 kW DC / 990 kW AC                  │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Physical Asset            │ 2,732 Solar PV Modules                   │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Annual Financial Savings  │ $502,697 / year                          │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Project Payback & IRR     │ 3.5-Year Payback / 31.10% IRR            │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Estimated Lifetime Value  │ $12,567,428 Total Savings                │
└───────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────┘

(Data source: Otter Energy SCHÜTZ Case Study)

SCHÜTZ wanted a definitive way to control rising operational costs. Otter Energy designed and installed a turn-key 1,584 kW DC system, strategically paired with a 990 kW AC inverter framework.

Because Class A returns are driven by dropping demand during high-value peak intervals, the solar array only needs to produce 44% of the facility’s total volumetric electricity needs to unlock a staggering $502,697 in annual savings. By insulating the plant against volatile GA peak hours, the project achieved an eye-popping 31.10% Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and $12,567,428 in projected lifetime savings.

2. Class B Customers: Chipping Away at Flat GA Rates

Class B includes mid-sized operations, small businesses, warehouses, and institutions that do not participate in the Class A industrial initiative. Unlike Class A, these customers pay a flat, system-wide GA rate based entirely on the total volume of kilowatt-hours (kWh) they consume each month.

For a Class B customer, it doesn’t matter when you use power—the utility company charges you a flat rate for every single kWh you pull from the grid.

How Commercial Solar Offsets Volumetric Costs

For these organizations, solar power serves as a reliable, steady tool to chip away at volumetric overhead. Every kilowatt-hour generated by your rooftop or ground-mounted solar array is a kilowatt-hour you do not have to buy from the utility provider, directly wiping out both the market price of electricity and the flat GA fee attached to it.

Class B businesses experience two major financial advantages from solar:

• Shaving Daytime Expenses: Solar generates electricity during peak business hours, right when your operations are running and utility time-of-use rates are at their highest.
• Net Metering Benefits: Ontario’s Net Metering program allows Class B businesses to send excess solar generation back to the local utility grid in exchange for credits. If your facility produces extra energy over the weekend while your production lines are closed, those credits roll over to automatically offset your utility and GA bills when you reopen on Monday.

Class B in Action: The Timbren Industries Case Study

When your utility bills are calculated volumetrically, the engineering goal changes from peak-shaving to maximum energy offset. This is beautifully illustrated by Timbren Industries, a premier vehicle and trailer suspension manufacturer located in Whitby, Ontario.

                      TIMBREN INDUSTRIES CASE STUDY
┌───────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Facility Location         │ Whitby, Ontario (2024 Install)           │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ System Size / Asset Count │ 1MW DC Nameplate / 1,854 Solar Modules   │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Total Electricity Offset  │ 75% of Entire Facility Requirements      │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Annual Financial Savings  │ $291,000 / year                          │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Project Payback & IRR     │ 4.7-Year Payback / 22% IRR               │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Total Project ROI         │ 923% Total Return                        │
└───────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────┘

(Data source: Otter Energy Timbren Case Study)

Looking to insulate themselves from rising utility rates and slash operational costs, Timbren partnered with Otter Energy for a turn-key rooftop solar solution. Otter deployed a 1MW DC capacity array consisting of 1,854 high-efficiency modules.

By matching the array’s output to the facility’s heavy daytime manufacturing footprint, the system consistently produces 75% of Timbren’s entire electricity requirements. This massive volumetric reduction completely bypasses the grid’s flat GA fees, pocketing the company $291,000 in annual savings and delivering a swift 4.7-year payback period.

The Ultimate CFO Advantage: Multiplied Net Operating Income

Whether you run a Class A or Class B facility, the ultimate decision-maker is the balance sheet. In Canada’s current fiscal climate, commercial solar acts as an aggressive tax shelter and asset multiplier:

1.  

   The Solar Tax Stacking Effect: Under current federal frameworks, businesses can combine the 30% Clean Technology Investment Tax Credit (ITC) with a 100% Accelerated Capital Cost Allowance (CCA) write-off. This allows profitable corporations to recover up to 50% of their total solar investment in the very first year.

2.  

   The Cap Rate Multiplier: Every dollar you shave off your utility bill is a permanent reduction in Operating Expenses (OpEx) and a direct increase in Net Operating Income (NOI). At a conservative 6% commercial capitalization rate, adding $291,000 to your NOI (like Timbren) increases the underlying property asset value by $4.85 Million. Adding $502,697 to your NOI (like SCHÜTZ) boosts building equity by a staggering $8.37 Million on day one.

Choosing the Right Partner

Implementing a highly successful commercial solar system requires an intimate, flawless understanding of Ontario’s complex grid structure, electrical engineering, and local hydro connection boundaries.

As Canada’s only ISO:9001 certified solar company, Otter Energy subjects its engineering, procurement, and construction to rigorous annual quality audits. With over 550,000 panels installed across the country, we specialize in converting unpredictable, frustrating utility bills into predictable, high-yield cash-flow assets.

Is your facility still paying premium rates for peak power?

Contact Otter Energy today to start your customized solar feasibility study.