ESA Announces Fee Increase and Updates to Solar, Entertainment & Deviation Fees

March 28, 2025

To respond to inflationary pressures, the ESA plans to increase wiring and licensing fees by 2.2% that will come into effect, on April 1, 2025.

This increase reflects the inflationary pressures that the ESA, and many organizations, are facing, while continuing to deliver on the ESA’s important mandate for sector and public education and invest in operational efficiencies and the digital strategy.

At the same time, the ESA will be reducing the fees for Solar Photovoltaic systems, greater than 10kW, by 25%; the fees for Entertainment productions will increase – C032 for Theatre, Film, TV and Video will be rising to $327 and C041 for Commercials will be rising to $170;  and ESA will be introducing a new fee for Deviation requests – which is an optional service for those considering deviations from the Ontario Electrical Safety Code.

These optional deviation requests will face a fee of $388 for the first two hours of review time, and then a fee of $194 per additional hour of review, reflecting the time and effort from ESA personnel, and the increasing complexity of these requests.

The ESA Fee Guide is in process of being updated, and will be posted prior to April 1 implementation at: https://esasafe.com/fees-and-forms/fees/

For clarity, the fee increase in October was a reflection of 2023 inflationary costs, and the fee increase in April is related to 2024 inflationary costs. Going forward, ESA will implement fee changes in-line with the beginning of the fiscal year, on April 1st, to provide predictability for the sector.

The ESA recognizes the impact that fee changes put on our stakeholder community and will continue to drive public value through our financial and operational performances. ESA will continue to find ways, like the ESA ON Mobile App, to drive cost and burden reduction in the sector.

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