Ontario’s Integrated Energy Plan

Overview

June 12, 2025: The Government of Ontario released Energy for Generations | Ontario’s Integrated Plan (IEP) to Power the Strongest Economy in the G7, formally signaling the need for immediate action and long-term planning. The plan aims to present a holistic policy strategy that will guide Ontario’s energy planners and regulators based on four core principles: affordability, security, reliability, and clean energy.

Simultaneously, the Minister of Energy and Mines issued two enabling directives to the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) and the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO), that bind those respective organizations to the IEP.

Following years of planning processes and engagements, the IEP combines existing and new policy initiatives into one definitive document that explicitly states Ontario’s position on virtually every energy policy matter, as follows:

• Integrated Planning Framework and Scenario Development: combines long-term analysis with yearly forecasts to guide energy planning, including regular scenario reviews. Ministerial oversight to ensure alignment with provincial goals.
• Natural Gas Policy Statement: recognizes the important role of natural gas across the entire energy sector, while binding IESO/OEB planning and adjudication to the policy.
• Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) and Local Energy Systems: strong focus on the important role of distribution systems while boosting DER integration through updated planning, procurement, and cost recovery models.
• Nuclear and Hydroelectric Resources: prioritizes nuclear and hydro, supporting new nuclear builds and Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). The Northern Hydro Program and a 2025 report on export infrastructure will boost generation and regional clean energy initiatives.
• Regional and Bulk System Planning Modernization: updates energy planning by integrating electric and gas systems and streamlining regional processes. A 2025 report will recommend reforms to better support growth, coordination, and community needs.
• Market Design and Strategic Alignment: update regulations to support non-emitting energy and strengthen distributor roles in local planning without adopting a full Distribution System Operator (DSO) model.
• Major Project Identification and Transmission Development: launches the Major Project Identification Committee (MPIC) to prioritize key transmission projects and launches a registry to pre-qualify developers. Strategic corridors will support growth and ensure reliable, affordable infrastructure. The advancement of competitive transmission via the Transmitter Selection Framework.
• Procurement Reform and Connection Modernization: streamline procurement and interconnection to accelerate projects and support new technologies. Reforms target bottlenecks and improvement to access in high-demand areas.
• Clean Energy Finance and Delivery Mechanisms: Ontario will use $160 million from the Clean Electricity Fund and a new Transmission Fund to support clean energy, with ministerial approval to ensure priorities.
• Indigenous Participation and Partnership: boosts Indigenous funding and requires equity in major projects to ensure Indigenous leadership in Ontario’s clean energy future.
• Low-Carbon Technologies and Clean Energy Programs: advances hydrogen, district energy, and carbon capture, with plans to finalize rules by September 2025.
• Build, Build, Build: embeds economic development into energy policy, reshaping it to support growth and global prominence.

The IEP is supported by a sequence of legislative instruments that have the effect of enhancing and centralizing the Minister’s powers, aligning planning frameworks and accelerating infrastructure development:

• Keeping Energy Costs Down Act, 2024 (Bill 165)
• Affordable Energy Act, 2024 (Bill 214)
• Protecting Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, 2025 (Bill 5)
• Bill 40 | Protect Ontario by Securing Affordable Energy for Generations Act, 2025

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