Provincial power rebates will be applied automatically

By COLLIN GALLANT on June 8, 2022.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

Provincial power rebates will be automatically applied to City of Medicine Hat bills this summer with no action required by ratepayers, according to city officials who warn against scam phone calls circulating in Alberta this week.

In March the province announced $150 in relief for power customers facing high rates and record-high bills this past winter. The details, however, were only made official late last week, with warnings from police and stories of text and email scams coming in over the weekend.

The city’s manager of customer service and billing, Denise Schmaltz, said Tuesday the city will never ask for credit card or banking information over the phone, by text or email. If in doubt, a person should hang up and call the city department directly, rather than deal with someone who has called them.

“All electric distributors were informed on Friday” said Schmaltz. “It’s important that customers recognized that there are phishing scams out there trying to get information. We’ve been told our customers have been asked for their (personal information regarding) utility bills, tax bills and now this rebate program.

“You don’t need to apply, and please don’t give out any of your information.”

Schmaltz also said rebates will be added to local bills automatically, crediting $50 to each of the bills for July, August and September.

That will be applied to all metered service, including every residential customer, though there are restrictions for large commercial customers.

A related rebate program for natural gas will be put in place for October, though that may depend on rates and will likely not be a set amount.