Default power price spikes
By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on July 5, 2023.
https://www.medicinehatnews.com@MedicineHatNews As expected, power prices spiked in Medicine Hat and across Alberta on Tuesday with the default price for electricity rising by 66 per cent over June’s rate. That puts the price for non-contract customers at 24.9-cents per kilowatt hour of power before nine-tenths of a cent is added to recapture portions of a provincial deferral program in place last winter. That program capped the price on bills at 13 cents, about half the amount determined as the average rate across the province in July. Medicine Hat sets its default, or Regulated Rate Option, at the average of other providers on a monthly basis. The combined RRO rate in Medicine Hat will be 25.8 cents, up from 16.9 cents in June. A new rate for 12-month, fixed-term rates was also posted for the new quarter by city utility department on Tuesday. It stands at 16.9 cents per kilowatt hour in place for 12 months, up from the 15.8-cent rate available from April to June. Comparable providers used to determine the RRO average were also up substantially as Alberta enters the high-demand air-conditioning months. The unadjusted rate (not including the payback) from Direct Energy was 24.1 cents for July, Enmax was 25 cents and Epcor 25.1 and 25.4 cents for rural and Edmonton customers, respectively. A variable rate option in Medicine Hat, based on actual market prices from the preceding month, was worth 20.4 cents in June. While power prices rose, the price of natural gas fell. The default rate for July will be $2.45 per gigajoule, compared to $3.63 in June. The new fixed rate for gas, available from July through September is $4.23, a drop of 60 cents from the previous quarter. 10-9
