Carbon tax removal easy for city, but will still show up on one more bill

By Medicine Hat News on March 15, 2025.

@MedicineHatNews

Removing the carbon levy from City of Medicine Hat utility bills will be relatively easy, but the established process means it will still appear on the next sets of bills, city officials said Friday.

New Prime Minister Mark Carney announced after his cabinet was sworn in in Ottawa that as of April 1, the consumer carbon will move to zero.

That will be reflected on local bills that will likely arrive after the change is made official.

“Our customers may notice any bill in April will include consumption in March, so there will still be a line item,” said Denise Schmalz, manager of customer care and billing on Friday.

“Any gas used after that would be charged a zero (on that bill), and in May that item will no longer be (listed).”

It’s not the first time the city’s billing department has added – or deleted – the carbon tax.

City of Medicine Hat moved to electronic reading of meters more than a decade ago, and when the levy was introduced in 2015, the system allowed them to apply the charge on only gas used after midnight when it went into effect.

A similar process was used in 2019 when the Alberta government’s carbon levy was abolished, and then again later that year when the federal levy was applied.

The charge began at $15 per tonne of carbon dioxide produced, which at the time translated to less than $1 per gigajoule gas, but as increased on a set schedule.

It was charged at $4.10 per gigajoule over the last 12 months – adding about 200 per cent to the total price – and was set to rise on April 1 to $4.86.

The carbon levy is not directly applied to electricity purchases. The city’s power plant pays the Alberta TIER levy – an equivalent industrial levy – on emissions from its normal revenue.

Schmalz also said the change on the consumer tax won’t affect city finances as all money collected was remitted to the federal government, similar to GST it collects.

It will however, lower utility bills, she said.

“It’s good news for customers,” she said. “Depending on their consumption and weather, people could notice anywhere from $30 to $60 that wouldn’t be on their bill (this spring).”

The change comes after the coldest months of the year, February and January, when the monthly levy charge could be $100 or more.

The federal government also announced on Friday that it will process the quarterly Canada Carbon Rebate payment in April, but then discontinue the program that paid $2,160 per year to a family of four in Medicine Hat.

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