Six oil sands with increasing water and clay content were investigated for their electrical relaxation mechanisms using broadband dielectric spectroscopy with frequency (1 Hz to 1 MHz) and temperature (20-200 degrees C) to identify suitable operational strategies for electrical heating. Oil sands having least water and clay content showed a conduction relaxation mechanism following Jonscher's law due to Maxwell-Wagner (MW) polarizations at bound water interfaces between bitumen and silica grains. MW polarizations due to free water interfaces between 1 kHz and 1 MHz were observed for oil sands having pendular connected water channels between sand grains. Poor oil sands with water entrapped in fine clusters had a dominant dc conduction mechanism. Additionally, all oil sands displayed dipole relaxations due to bitumen molecules between 100 kHz and 1 MHz. Electrical properties increased as temperatures were increased from 20 to 120 degrees C, whereas a further increase from 120 to 200 degrees C resulted in reduction of these properties and dominance of ac conduction, causing all oil sands to behave the same irrespective of their grade.