The city's main power plant in the South Saskatchewan River valley is shown in this file photo. Power rates won't change much month to month for November billing, but natural gas will surpass $5 per gigajoule.--NEWS PHOTO COLLIN GALLANT
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Natural gas will top $5 mark for home and small business utility customers in Medicine Hat this month – a rate seen only a few times in the last decade.
The new default price for home heating fuel was sat at $5.35 per gigajoule in November based on average prices offered across the province.
That is a $1.33 increase from October, driven by higher commodity prices and relatively low volumes ahead of the colder months when demand and use rises.
The cost of power will remain relatively stable, at 10.64-cents per kilowatt hour, compared to October.
Both commodity prices are now well above a fixed price offered to utility customers who sign up for either, or both, for a minimum six-month term.
The fixed price for power, set yearly at the city’s cost plus a rate of return, is 6.8-cents per kilowatt in the Medicine Hat franchise area.
The fixed gas price, set at the average of contract prices from major Alberta distributors, is $3.50 per gigajoule.
The average default power price rose throughout Alberta to begin November. The high price was $5.38, offered by Apex Utilities, and the low was $5.33, from Direct Energy.
Power prices used to determine the Medicine Hat average were: 10.48-cents (Direct), 10.7-cents (Enmax), 10.8-cents (Epcor-Edmonton), and 10.64-cents (Epcor-rural).
