Short answer: the Rate of Last Resort (RoLR) is Alberta’s default electricity rate for anyone who has never signed a contract with a competitive retailer. It replaced the Regulated Rate Option on January 1, 2025, and is fixed at 12.01 to 12.06 cents per kilowatt-hour from January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2026. If your bill shows a regulated services provider and a rate near 12¢/kWh, you are on it.
Last updated August 20, 2026. Default rate figures from the Utilities Consumer Advocate.
How to tell whether you are on it
Three checks, in order:
- Look at who bills you. If the retailer name on your bill is a regulated services provider — for example Direct Energy Regulated Services, ENMAX Energy (regulated), EPCOR Energy Alberta or ATCO’s regulated arm — you are almost certainly on the default rate.
- Look at the energy rate line. A rate at or near 12¢/kWh with no contract term shown is the tell. Competitive rates in Alberta are currently running about 5 to 9¢/kWh.
- Ask yourself if you ever signed anything. If you moved in, called to turn the power on, and never chose a retailer or a rate, you were placed on the default by design.
Why the name changed
Until the end of 2024, Alberta’s default was called the Regulated Rate Option (RRO), and it was recalculated every month. That monthly reset is what produced the notorious bill shocks of 2022 and 2023, when the RRO tracked the wholesale market straight up.
On January 1, 2025 the province replaced it with the Rate of Last Resort, which is set for a two-year period rather than monthly. The current period runs to December 31, 2026. The trade-off is deliberate: no more month-to-month shocks, but a rate that sits well above what the competitive market is charging when wholesale prices are low, as they are now.
What it costs you compared with the alternatives
| Rate | Price | Energy cost at 600 kWh/month |
| Rate of Last Resort | 12.01–12.06¢/kWh | about $72 |
| Competitive 1-year fixed | 6.57¢/kWh | about $39 |
| Competitive variable (30-day avg) | 5.31¢/kWh | about $32 |
On a 600 kWh home, the difference between the default rate and a competitive variable rate is roughly $40 a month on the energy line alone, before fees. That is why the RoLR is best understood as a safety net rather than a plan anyone should stay on by choice.
It is worth being fair about the other side: the RoLR carries no contract, no term and no exit fee, and for the current two-year window it will not move. If wholesale prices had gone the other way, that fixed-for-two-years feature would look very different.
Who ends up on it
- People who have just moved and called the default provider to get the lights on.
- Renters in units where the utility account was set up quickly and never revisited.
- Households whose fixed-term contract expired and who were rolled back to default rather than renewing.
- Estates, vacant properties and secondary sites nobody has looked at in years.
In Fort McMurray and the wider Wood Buffalo region, the default provider is Direct Energy Regulated Services, reachable at 1-866-374-6299, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Friday. Elsewhere in the province the default provider depends on your wires company.
What is happening after December 31, 2026
The current RoLR price period ends December 31, 2026. The framework and pricing beyond that date are set through the Alberta Utilities Commission process, and the details for the next period are worth watching if you intend to stay on the default rate. Separately, Alberta’s wholesale market is transitioning to the AESO’s Restructured Energy Market, with implementation beginning mid-2027 — that reshapes how generators are paid rather than how you are billed, but it is the backdrop to how retailers are pricing forward contracts today.
We track both in our weekly Alberta Energy Market Report.
How to leave the default rate
Choose a competitive retailer and a rate type, provide your site ID and service address from a recent bill, and the change takes effect on your next meter read cycle. There is no service interruption, no technician visit, and no exit fee for leaving the RoLR because there is no contract to break. The full process is on our how switching works page, and the fixed-or-variable decision is covered in fixed vs variable electricity rates in Alberta.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Rate of Last Resort in Alberta?
It is the default electricity rate for customers who have not signed a contract with a competitive retailer. It replaced the Regulated Rate Option on January 1, 2025 and is set at 12.01 to 12.06 cents per kilowatt-hour for the period from January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2026.
How do I know if I am on the Rate of Last Resort?
Check your bill. If your retailer is a regulated services provider, your energy rate is close to 12 cents per kilowatt-hour, and no contract term is listed, you are on the default rate.
Is the Rate of Last Resort the same as the RRO?
No. The Regulated Rate Option was recalculated monthly and ended December 31, 2024. The Rate of Last Resort that replaced it is fixed for a two-year period instead of changing every month.
Is the Rate of Last Resort a good deal?
Not at the moment. At 12.01 to 12.06 cents per kilowatt-hour it is roughly double the competitive variable rates available in Alberta in August 2026. Its advantage is stability and the absence of any contract, not price.
Is there a penalty for leaving the Rate of Last Resort?
No. There is no contract and no exit fee. You can move to a competitive retailer at any time and the change takes effect on your next meter read.
What happens to the Rate of Last Resort after 2026?
The current price period ends December 31, 2026. Pricing for the following period is determined through the Alberta Utilities Commission process. Check the AUC or Utilities Consumer Advocate for the current figures before relying on the numbers above after that date.
Sources
- Utilities Consumer Advocate — Rate of Last Resort — definition and replacement of the RRO effective January 1, 2025. Retrieved August 20, 2026.
- Utilities Consumer Advocate — Default rates — current RoLR prices of 12.01 to 12.06¢/kWh to December 31, 2026.
- Alberta Utilities Commission — current rates and terms and conditions — the RoLR is fixed for the two-year period January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2026.
- AESO — Restructured Energy Market — market transition timeline.
Get Energy is a competitive retailer offering electricity and natural gas services for residential, small business, and farm consumers across Alberta. Get Energy is a tradename of Utility Network & Partners Inc.
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