All decisions on options for the future of the city's energy business have officially been deferred to the next council after staff were directed Monday to provide information that will take several months to put together.--NEWS PHOTO BRENDAN MILLER
bmiller@medicinehatnews.com
Council will let the next group decide the future of the city’s energy business.
Members this week approved a motion to defer any decisions or planning toward creation of municipally controlled corporation and rate review committee as part of the Energy Business Strategic Review after requesting additional information be provided by staffers.
Councillors received a presentation from staff Monday that included six suggested options on utility rate governance – status quo, enhanced public hearings, utilizing consultants, a rate advisory committee with no delegated authority, a rate advisory committee as proposed and the combination of a rate advisory and energy business committees.
Under the “Status Quo” scenario, the rate-setting process would continue under current framework and is the lowest cost option.
On the other end of the spectrum, the greatest cost scenario would consist of a rate advisory committee and energy business committee working together to provide additional oversight to rate-setting and allow for greater stakeholder engagement while minimizing political intervention.
After hearing details on all six options, including costs, council approved a motion asking staff to provide additional information related to three scenarios, including regular rate setting, changing the rate class within the distribution system, or a major capital expenditure within the city’s energy production.
“I think it would be very helpful for both council and the public to have a better understanding of the impacts of choosing one of these options,” said Coun. Alison Van Dyke. “Because right now, this is essentially just theoretical … It’s hard to know how they would play out, but seeing how each of those different scenarios would move through them, I think would be very clarifying.”
Van Dyke’s motion asks that further details for the public be included within a future council agenda packet.
“Something a little bit more formal, just so there can be some review and more consideration on it.”
Staff expect to have the additional information and costs related to each option for a new council to consider sometime during the first quarter of 2026.
In a June public hearing, several speakers called for a halt to both exploring an MCC and a current process to advertise the city’s remaining 500 gas wells for sale to private-sector buyers.
During an open meeting on July 21, staff presented council with a motion to approve the MCC with all its related budget and related requirements, which was defeated 5-4.
While that motion was pending, council directed staff to bring back additional information for consideration of the rate review committee, independent from an MCC.
