Utility relief amounts will change to meet price peaks

By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on November 25, 2022.

https://www.medicinehatnews.com@MedicineHatNews

A provincial program to pay a portion of high power bills will continue until the early spring, a city committee heard Thursday, but the amounts provided will change.

The province originally dedicated $50 monthly payments to every single-connection residential and small commercial utility bill in Alberta last spring, and eventually extended that until December.

But, with high rates expected to continue into the new year, and Premier Danielle Smith promising to focus helping Albertans absorb costs, she announced a further extension in a TV broadcast Tuesday.

Thursday’s meeting of the Medicine Hat corporate services committee heard processing the payments will be extended as is.

However, $75 would be credited on bills in January and February, then $25 in March and April.

“The continuation of the utility relief plan is now called the inflation relief plan,” said corporate division head Dennis Egert.

The program has drawn criticism for not including payments to some 400,000 condominium owners in the province who have sub-metered service or who pay pooled utility fees through condo fees.

On Thursday, the province announced that program to cap natural gas prices at $6.50 per gigajoule for customers will not be needed in December, as the average regulated price option rate will be below that level.

No figure was provided, but the price proposed by utility companies and approved by regulators in November was $5.50.