Heated Driveway Operating Cost on Ontario Rates
The operating cost of a heated driveway is about $11 to $34 in electricity per snowfall for a typical GTA double driveway of 600 sq ft. A hot water system does the same job for about $3 to $5 of gas. What you actually pay comes down to the driveway size, the type of system you own, and the hour the snow starts falling.
Hourly Cost on Each Price Plan
While it runs, an electric system pulls about 50 watts for each square foot. Your utility bills you in kilowatt hours, or kWh. One kWh is what a 1,000 watt device uses in an hour. So a 400 sq ft driveway burns through 20 kWh for every hour of running, and a 600 sq ft one goes through 30 kWh.
| Plan and its hours | Price | Single driveway, 400 sq ft | Double driveway, 600 sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ultra-Low Overnight, every night between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. | 3.7¢ per kWh | $0.74 hourly | $1.11 hourly |
| Time-of-Use off-peak, covering weekends plus nights and evening hours on weekdays | 9.1¢ per kWh | $1.82 hourly | $2.73 hourly |
| Tiered, covering your first 1,000 kWh each month | 11.2¢ per kWh | $2.24 hourly | $3.36 hourly |
| Time-of-Use mid-peak, weekday hours from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. | 14.6¢ per kWh | $2.92 hourly | $4.38 hourly |
| Time-of-Use on-peak, weekday mornings from 7 to 11 and evenings from 5 to 7 | 18.9¢ per kWh | $3.78 hourly | $5.67 hourly |
| Ultra-Low Overnight on-peak, weekday evenings between 4 and 9 p.m. | 37.7¢ per kWh | $7.54 hourly | $11.31 hourly |
| Hot-water system burning gas from Enbridge | 27.7731¢ per cubic metre | $0.57 hourly | $0.86 hourly |
What Does One Snowfall Cost?
Cost guides figure a snowfall means the system runs for 4 hours to 6 hours. Multiply the hourly rates by that and you get these totals.
| Plan | Single driveway, 400 sq ft | Double driveway, 600 sq ft |
|---|---|---|
| Ultra-Low Overnight, with its 3.7¢ rate | roughly $3 to $4 | roughly $4 to $7 |
| Time-of-Use off-peak, with the 9.1¢ rate | roughly $7 to $11 | roughly $11 to $16 |
| Tiered, with the 11.2¢ rate | roughly $9 to $13 | roughly $13 to $20 |
| Time-of-Use mid-peak, with the 14.6¢ rate | roughly $12 to $18 | roughly $18 to $26 |
| Time-of-Use on-peak, with the 18.9¢ rate | roughly $15 to $23 | roughly $23 to $34 |
| Ultra-Low Overnight on-peak, with the 37.7¢ rate | roughly $30 to $45 | roughly $45 to $68 |
| Hot-water system burning gas | roughly $2 to $3 | roughly $3 to $5 |
If you are on the Ultra-Low Overnight plan, weekday snow at suppertime runs about ten times what the same snow costs once 11 p.m. passes.
Ontario Electricity Prices From 1 November 2026
Household electricity prices in Ontario are set each year on 1 November by the Ontario Energy Board. Most homes sit on Time-of-Use pricing, where the hour of the day sets the rate. Some homes pick Ultra-Low Overnight instead, which is very cheap late at night and very expensive on weekday evenings. Others stay on Tiered pricing, a flat rate that applies to your first 1,000 kWh each winter month. All these numbers are for electricity alone. They do not cover the other charges that appear on your bill.
Heating the Driveway with a Gas Boiler
With a hydronic setup, a gas boiler heats water and sends it through tubing buried beneath the pavement to warm the driveway. A boiler rated ENERGY STAR turns 90 % of its gas into heat. On Enbridge's rates from 1 October 2026, the heat from gas costs about 2.9¢ per kWh before HST. That's less than a third of the regular off-peak electricity price, which is why gas costs so much less per snowfall. Enbridge adds $27.69 a month no matter whether the driveway runs.
Snowfall Frequency in Toronto
Between 1991 and 2020, Toronto Pearson saw an average of 114.5 cm of snow each year. Snow fell on 44.7 days a year, days with at least 0.2 cm, though only 7.2 of those days dropped 5 cm or more. Size a system right and it can keep up with snow coming down at up to 2 inches per hour.
Upkeep and How Long It Lasts
One manufacturer of these systems gives an electric setup over 30 years of life, and puts a hydronic boiler's life at 20 to 25 years. A snow sensor, a small add-on that spots snow landing on your driveway, costs $1,200 to $3,000.
Questions People Ask
What does a heated driveway do to my power bill through a winter?
One installer in the GTA publishes a figure of $160 to $420 each winter for running a 600 sq ft electric driveway under Time-of-Use rates.
Are heated driveways expensive to run?
The bigger cost is putting one in. Running it costs far less, though an electric system can still add a few hundred dollars over a winter. Installed, an electric double driveway runs $12,000 to $36,000, and a hydronic one between $24,000 and $57,000.
Is it cheaper to heat just a walkway?
Yes. An electric walkway of 100 sq ft pulls 5 kW, which comes to roughly $0.46 per hour off-peak and $0.95 per hour at peak times.