City Notebook: Let’s focus the power conversation

By COLLIN GALLANT on September 9, 2023.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

Few topics feature more potential distractions than utility bills.

How an invisible flow of electrons power everything from a toaster to the monetary system is a wonder on its own. Now add politics and finances (both high and household) to the mix. Layer on three levels of government, reams of legislation and the personal circumstances of 36,000 account holders in the Hat area, and you begin to see what I mean.

In Alberta, the financial aspects of the system operate like no other in Canada, and Medicine Hat, like no other in this province.

And so here we are at a critical time for what may be the only remaining real advantage the Gas City has.

This summer’s strife over rising power prices formed around the idea that Medicine Hat should be charging its customers the lowest rate and not bothering with the rigmarole of this option or that, like private utilities in the province.

That’s after several years of some ratepayers loudly calling for the ability to sign contracts and potentially beat the system like their relatives elsewhere can.

This is after 14 years of being charged the average of Alberta prices that, luck would have it, were actually fairly low.

But things typically work until they don’t.

When the Alberta market rose steadily, so did prices here, thereby adding urgency to provide a discount as the benefit of local ownership.

It should be simple, Hatters can and do argue.

But less simple is separating how the profits from power sales, both in the city and on the high-riding provincial grid, are used in the city budget.

Administrators suggest a complete business and business “philosophy” review be completed before any major decisions are made.

That comes as council approved relatively huge relief payments, totalling $33 million, plus they broke with once iron-clad rate-setting policy of averaging to ask for an interim rate until the analysis is complete.

Some councillors, like energy committee chair Coun. Alison Van Dyke says that’s a lot more than what a privately run utility would provide its customers, with more to come.

Van Dyke, of course, came to prominence in the city arranging a campaign to halt a process by the energy division in 2021 that many felt could have led to the sale of the power plant to private interests.

That discussion, both pro and con, seemed to fall off the radar until this summer, but ratepayers, it seems, want greater proof.

Hatters deserve to have a full airing, a full understanding, and a full discussion about what lays ahead for publicly-owned power in Medicine Hat.

Let’s hope that happens without too many distractions.

A look ahead

Expect more news next week on the local outlook for renewable projects that are caught up in a province-wide pause on new regulatory approvals. City hall’s public and corporate services committees are set to met this week. Council returns Sept. 18. The Tigers are at home in a preseason tilt Saturday.

The Santa Claus Fund Toy Run is also set for Saturday.

100 years ago

The Alberta Dept. of Labour encouraged high school-aged boys to suspend studies in order to help out with a bountiful harvest, the News reported in early September, 1923.

It also encouraged local boards to credit such service in final grades. In conjunction with the Dept. of Education it also suspended instruction at a Calgary teachers college and dispatched 140 pupils to the fields.

Crop estimates for the province were 25 bushels per acre for wheat, or about 150 million in total, about double to amount taken off in 1922.

The coming “Kommunity Karnival” would feature fun that was “fast, furious and frolicsome” according to Rotarians staging the now annual fundraising festival. The alliterative promotional strategy didn’t stop there as ladies were encouraged to enter the Kake Kooking Kontest.

An earthquake and ensuing fires left as many as 160,000 dead in Tokyo and as many as 1 million without shelter in the Japanese capital.

The Medicine Hat Byngs would host the Calgary Vies in the Alberta Junior Baseball title series. Locally, the Vets secured the Five Roses Cup on the local soccer pitch denoting men’s senior league dominance.

Collin Gallant covers city politics and a variety of topics for the News. Reach him at 403-528-5664 or via email at cgallant@medicinehatnews.com