Northern Ontario energy credit: eligible districts, amounts and payments

What is the Northern Ontario energy credit?

The Northern Ontario energy credit is a provincial credit that helps people in Northern Ontario with the higher cost of heating and powering a home in a colder climate. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) calculates it from your tax return and pays it as part of the Ontario Trillium Benefit (OTB), not as a separate cheque or deposit.

The amounts are small compared with the other OTB credits, but for a northern household it adds up to about $15.75 to $24.17 a month when paid monthly at the maximum.

Which areas count as Northern Ontario for the NOEC?

For this credit, Northern Ontario means ten territorial districts named by the CRA. Your main home must have been in one of them on December 31, 2025.

The list is closed. Districts just south of it, such as Muskoka and Haliburton, do not qualify even though winters there are also long. What counts is the district of your principal residence, not your mailing address or where you work.

Who meets the Northern Ontario energy credit eligibility rules?

You can get the 2026 NOEC if you lived in Northern Ontario on December 31, 2025 and meet both an age or family test and a housing cost test (CRA, NOEC questions and answers).

Two groups are left out. Students in a designated university, college or private school residence cannot use that residence to qualify, although they may still get the small $25 residence amount under the energy and property tax credit. People renting a home that pays no Ontario property tax also do not qualify on that rent.

How much is the NOEC for 2026-27?

For July 2026 to June 2027, the maximum is $189 for a single person with no children and $290 for a couple or a single parent. The CRA reduces it by 1% of adjusted family net income above $50,833 for singles and $65,356 for families.

Working the formula backwards, a single person's credit reaches zero at about $69,733 of income, and a family's at about $94,356. These cut-off points are our calculation from the CRA's 2026 calculation sheets, not figures the CRA prints.

Worked example: family in Thunder Bay

1. A couple with two children rented a home in Thunder Bay in 2025 and had adjusted family net income of $80,000.
2. Income over $65,356: $14,644.
3. 1% reduction: $146.44.
4. NOEC: $290 minus $146.44 = $143.56 for the year.

A single renter in Timmins earning $42,000 is below the $50,833 threshold and gets the full $189.

How is the Northern Ontario energy credit paid?

The NOEC is paid through the Ontario Trillium Benefit. The CRA adds it to your Ontario energy and property tax credit and Ontario sales tax credit, then pays the combined total.

• Combined OTB over $500: paid monthly on the 10th from July 2026 to June 2027, or once on June 10, 2027 if you chose that option.
• Combined OTB of $500 or less: paid in one July payment.
• Next 2026 deposits: November 10 and December 10.

Because the NOEC is folded into the total, it will not show as its own deposit. Your OTB notice of determination is the place to check how the total was worked out. The month-by-month schedule is on the OTB payment dates page.

How do you claim the NOEC on Form ON-BEN?

You claim the NOEC on Form ON-BEN, filed with your 2025 return. The form asks whether your principal residence was in Northern Ontario on December 31, 2025, and uses the same rent or property tax figures you enter for the energy and property tax credit.

1. Answer the Northern Ontario residence question on Form ON-BEN.
2. Enter your 2025 rent, property tax, long-term care or reserve energy costs.
3. If you have a partner, one of you claims for both. The CRA requires the same person to claim the NOEC and the energy and property tax credit.
4. If you moved north during 2025, what matters is where you lived on December 31.

If you missed the northern question on an earlier return, you can ask the CRA to adjust that year with Form T1-ADJ. Seniors in the north should also look at GAINS, and the Ontario benefit payment dates page shows how the OTB fits with other deposits.