Wyse Meter Solutions agreed to refund reconnection charges, credit affected customers $50 each and pay a $20,000 administrative penalty after acknowledging breaches of Ontario’s electricity-disconnection rules.
The Ontario Energy Board accepted the company’s Assurance of Voluntary Compliance in EB-2026-0111 on July 22, 2026. The agreement, signed the previous day, addressed notices issued between April 24 and November 14, 2024.
The outcome is an accepted regulatory compliance agreement, not a criminal conviction or a damages judgment after a contested hearing. The assurance states that it has the same force and effect as an OEB order and that consumers retain any rights they have under applicable laws.
Notices did not provide the required time
Wyse operates as a licensed unit sub-meter provider. An OEB customer complaint led staff to review its disconnection practices and identify breaches of the Unit Sub-Metering Code.
After the board sought further information in March 2025, Wyse reviewed the notices sent during the seven-month period and confirmed instances of non-compliance.
The assurance records that 49,481 consumers were given only 11 to 13 days’ notice before the earliest stated disconnection date, instead of the required minimum 14 days. It separately identifies three notices with disconnection windows extending to 16 days, beyond the permitted 14-day maximum.
Those are distinct protections: customers must receive enough warning before disconnection can begin, and a notice cannot remain usable indefinitely after that waiting period.
Notices also failed to explain assistance options clearly. They did not expressly state that the prescribed arrears-management program could be available to all residential consumers, and they did not clearly describe protections and emergency financial assistance for eligible low-income customers.
The assurance says wording suggesting alternatives gave a misleading impression that assistance programs were mutually exclusive. Eligible customers could qualify for both emergency assistance and an arrears-management arrangement.
Refunds and credits for disconnected customers
During the period reviewed, Wyse disconnected electricity service to 1,302 consumers. Of those, 86 were disconnected before the minimum notice period had expired. The company applied approximately $167,790 in reconnection fees to 799 consumers.
Under the assurance, Wyse agreed to notify each customer disconnected following a non-compliant notice. The letter, in a form approved by OEB staff, was to explain the breaches and the compliance agreement.
Each of the 1,302 affected disconnected customers was to receive a $50 credit on the first bill after receiving the letter. Wyse also agreed to refund all reconnection fees applied to affected customers who were disconnected and subsequently reconnected.
For certain closed or inactive accounts where refunds could not be issued, the arrangement required payments to the appropriate Low-income Energy Assistance Program agency. It did not promise that every person who received a defective notice would receive a $50 credit: that remedy was tied to the 1,302 disconnected customers.
Billing changes and a separate penalty
Wyse said it had identified the root cause and corrected the billing system’s disconnection timeline. It reported testing the revised dates and implementing operational changes for clearer notices, compliant timing and improved record retention.
It also committed to revising explanations of customer assistance and implementing the remedial measures within 45 days of the assurance. The company agreed not to recover the agreement’s costs from its customers.
The separate $20,000 administrative penalty was payable to the OEB within two weeks of notice that the assurance had been accepted. That amount was distinct from customer credits and reconnection-fee refunds.
The agreement’s practical result was both individual redress and changes to disconnection practices, while expressly preserving consumers’ other legal rights.
