You know that feeling when a core memory just hits you out of nowhere? Usually, it's something sweet, like the smell of old library books or a specific song. But for a lot of us who grew up in Ontario during the mid-eighties, that memory is a bit more... jagged. It involves a darkened room, an eerie synth track, and a commercial that felt way more like a horror movie trailer than a pitch for home heating. I’m talking about the scary Ontario Hydro - Go Electric 1985 campaign.
It was everywhere.
If you were watching The Raccoons or catching the evening news on CBC, you couldn’t escape it. Most utility companies try to sell you on "comfort" or "savings." They show happy families in sweaters. Not Ontario Hydro in '85. They decided the best way to get people to switch from oil or gas to electric baseboards was through pure, unadulterated existential dread.
What made the Scary Ontario Hydro - Go Electric 1985 ad so effective?
Honestly, it was the sound design. Before the visuals even register, you hear this pulsing, low-frequency hum. It’s the kind of sound a predator makes in a sci-fi flick.
The visuals weren't much friendlier. We’re talking about high-contrast shadows, flickering lights, and shots of old, clanking furnaces that looked like they belonged in Freddy Krueger’s basement. The message was clear: your current heating system is a literal monster. It’s dirty. It’s unreliable. It’s lurking.
Then came the pivot.
The screen would transition into this hyper-clean, almost sterile white space. "Go Electric," the narrator would command. It wasn't a suggestion. It felt like a directive from a benevolent but firm futuristic government. The scary Ontario Hydro - Go Electric 1985 spots utilized psychological marketing techniques that were way ahead of their time, even if they did give a generation of kids nightmares. By positioning the "old way" as a source of fear, the "new way" (electricity) wasn't just a utility choice—it was a rescue.
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The 1980s energy landscape in Ontario
To understand why they went so hard with the fear factor, you have to look at what was actually happening in the province back then.
Canada was coming off the back of the energy crises of the 1970s. Oil prices had been a rollercoaster. People were terrified of being cold in the winter because they couldn't afford the tank of oil. Ontario Hydro, which was a massive provincial Crown corporation at the time, had a huge surplus of electricity. Why? Because the nuclear program—specifically the massive Darlington and Bruce Power stations—was coming online or expanding. They had power to burn, literally.
They needed to get people off oil. Fast.
The "Go Electric" campaign was a massive push to modernize the grid. They wanted every suburban home in Mississauga, Scarborough, and London to rip out those "scary" old furnaces and put in electric baseboard heaters. They even offered grants and low-interest loans.
But the marketing? Man, the marketing was something else.
While the "Join the Heat Wave" campaign was the "happy" version of this push, the scary Ontario Hydro - Go Electric 1985 aesthetic was the stick to the Heat Wave's carrot. It played on the "dirty" aspect of fossil fuels. It showed soot. It showed grime. It made you feel like if you didn't switch, your house was essentially a ticking time bomb of inefficiency.
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Why do we still talk about it?
Nostalgia is a funny thing. We usually reserve it for things we loved, but "trauma-stalgia" is a real phenomenon in Canadian pop culture. Think about the Heritage Minutes where the guy screams "I can't smell burnt toast!" or the "Astar" robot from the War Amps commercials who could put his arm back on, but we couldn't.
The scary Ontario Hydro - Go Electric 1985 commercial fits right into that pantheon of weirdly intense Canadian PSA-style advertising.
It represents a specific moment in time when the government didn't just want to provide a service; they wanted to fundamentally change how you lived. It was the era of big infrastructure. They were proud of the nuclear fleet. They wanted you to be proud of it too, even if they had to scare the absolute daylights out of you to get you on board.
Interestingly, many people who made the switch based on those ads ended up regretting it a decade later. When electricity prices started to climb in the 90s and early 2000s, those "clean, modern" electric baseboards became incredibly expensive to run. The "monster" wasn't the old furnace anymore; it was the monthly hydro bill.
The lasting legacy of the "Go Electric" era
If you walk into a home built or renovated in Ontario around 1985 or 1986, you can still see the physical remains of this campaign. Look for the baseboard heaters in every room and the lack of ductwork. These "All-Electric" homes were the gold standard for about four years.
Nowadays, we’re seeing a weirdly similar push.
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Heat pumps are the new "Go Electric." The government is once again offering massive rebates to get people off gas. But notice the difference in the ads? Today, it’s all about green leaves, soft music, and "sustainability." Nobody is using the horror-movie tropes that made the scary Ontario Hydro - Go Electric 1985 ads so iconic. We've traded the fear of the "dirty furnace" for the fear of the "carbon footprint," but the marketing is way more polite about it.
Maybe that's why the '85 ads stick with us. They weren't polite. They were aggressive, weird, and visually arresting.
What to do if you're dealing with 1985-era heating
If you actually live in one of these "Go Electric" homes from the mid-eighties, you know the struggle. Those baseboards are simple, sure, but they are incredibly inefficient by modern standards.
Here is what you actually need to do if you're still living in the shadow of that 1985 campaign:
- Stop relying on baseboards alone. Even though Ontario Hydro told you they were the future, they're now the most expensive way to heat a home. Look into cold-climate heat pumps. They use the same "electric" philosophy but are about 300% more efficient.
- Check your insulation. The 1985 "Go Electric" push often assumed homes were airtight. Many weren't. If you're heating the air with electricity, you can't afford to let it leak out of old windows or thin attic insulation.
- Update your thermostats. The old dial thermostats that came with the 1985-era systems are notoriously inaccurate. Switching to a smart system specifically designed for high-voltage baseboards (like Mysa) can drop your bill by 20% without changing the heaters themselves.
- Acknowledge the history. Next time you see a flicker in your lights or hear a weird hum from the basement, just remember: it's probably just the ghost of 1980s marketing trying to sell you a nuclear-powered future.
The scary Ontario Hydro - Go Electric 1985 campaign is a masterclass in how to sear a brand into the collective consciousness of a province. It wasn't "nice." It wasn't "balanced." It was a loud, vibrating, shadowy reminder that the world was changing. And for those of us who saw it between Saturday morning cartoons, it was a reminder to keep the lights on.
To truly modernize a home from this era, your first step should be an energy audit. Ontario still offers various provincial and federal incentives that mirror the 1985 grants, but with much better technology. Moving to a hybrid system—retaining some electric backup while using a primary heat pump—is the most effective way to bury the "monster" in the basement for good.
Pro-Tip for Homeowners
If you are buying a home advertised as "all-electric" in Ontario, check the date of construction. If it's between 1984 and 1988, check the electrical panel capacity. These homes often have 200-amp service to handle the massive load of those 1985-era heaters, which is actually a huge plus if you plan on installing an EV charger today. The scary ads of the past might have accidentally future-proofed your garage.