Falling provincial power rates still higher than City of Medicine Hat
By Medicine Hat News on March 1, 2024.
@MedicineHatNews Floating power prices in the province are falling, but not yet to levels in Medicine Hat where rates will next be reset at the start of April. Last fall city council approved a move away from contract offerings and instead instituted a blanket rate for local electricity based on the wholesale price paid by marketers in the province. This month, Albertans on default pricing will pay an average of 13.6 cents per kilowatt hour of electricity use, but that includes a recovery charge from a provincial deferral program in 2023. The bare energy charge within the rate ranges from 9.95 cents for Epcor’s Edmonton customer base to 10.9 cents for Direct Energy customers. Those are less than one-third the cost during a record-setting summer in 2023. The local combined rate since Jan. 1 in Medicine Hat has been about 9.23 cents per kilowatt hour. That will be updated April 1 for the next three months based on the full year-ahead forecast of the Alberta grid wholesale price. Gas prices are also falling in the province, with Apex and Direct Energy offering prices of $1.41 and $2.13 per gigajoule in March, respectively. The city price is based on actual cost of purchasing gas for resale plus a return of 6 cents per gigajoule. The February rate was $2.50, and the March price will be announced Friday. 10-9
