A breakdown of the city’s cost relief program

By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on September 7, 2023.

https://www.medicinehatnews.com@MedicineHatNews

If you get a City of Medicine Hat power bill, you can expect to see a $400 credit on your next residential invoice, or $1,000 for small and medium business accounts, then half those amounts on the next two bills to follow.

That’s the upshot of a “cost-pressure relief” program passed by Medicine Hat city council Monday that will cost a total of $32 million dollars while utility staffers determine a “best of market” rate available this fall ahead of a greater review of the power plant’s financial operations by year end.

Confusion followed the Tuesday night meeting where council members responded to an uproar over high utility rates this summer.

Eventually, all nine members approved four months of $200 payments to residential accounts until November, though the first two (August and September) will be applied to bills mailed out at Sept. 18.

The same schedule will be applied to small and medium business credits, but at $500 per month.

Councillors debated whether usage would be a better metric to ensure business accounts, but were told the process for nearly 36,000 accounts would be difficult.

Administrators specifically posed the money as a general cost relief program, not a “utility rebate,” and said the use of utility bills is the easiest method to distribute the amounts.

The city similarly provided a blanket $136 utility credit in 2021 as a COVID relief program, but asked that residents who didn’t need the credit donate it back to the “Community Warmth Program,” which helps utility customers clear up amounts owing on a one-time basis to avoid disconnection.

The measure passed this week also directs the billing department to waive or refund any fees charged since June related to disconnection notices, late payments or non-sufficient funds.

The program will also distribute payments to Medicine Hat utility customers in Redcliff and portions of Cypress County, such as Desert Blume and Dunmore, which are inside the city’s power franchise area.

Administrators said about 12 per cent of the city’s near 36,000 accounts are located outside city limits.