October natural gas prices climb; amendment passed for medium commercial rates

By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on October 2, 2025.

SUBSCRIBE NOW

newsdesk@medicinehatnews.com

The October natural gas default rate has climbed by more than $0.20 in October at $1.004 per GJ, up from the previous month of $0.791 per GJ.

This rate is based on the weighted average cost of the City’s natural gas purchases for the month of consumption with the added cost of $0.07 per GJ to recover transaction costs and a small rate of return and is in accordance with the local Gas Utility Bylaw.

Electrical rates have been set for the remainder of the year with no changes to residential, farm, small and medium commercial, unmetered services and rental lighting.

The new calculated rate for the months of October, November and December is set at $0.05145 per kWh, however under the local Electric Utility Bylaw, customers will see the minimum of $0.0700 per kWh, the same cost consumers accorded in the third quarter of 2025.

This rate is based on a 12-month volume weight forecast by the ICE-NGX wholesale electricity energy market which keeps rates from exceeding $0.0110 per Kwh or going below a minimum rate of 0.0700 per Kwh.

Large commercial electoral rates, including industrial and street lighting, are on par with other Alberta communities at 0.12025 per kWh and remain fixed under the new ROLR Regulation.

This fixed rate is expected to remain in place until the end of 2026.

All rate payers will also be charged $0.0043 per kWh in October for the “Going Green” surcharge used to purchase renewable energy for residential, farm, small and medium commercial customers.

Changes to Medium Commercial classification

Councillors approved changes to expand the grace period for medium-sized businesses who have exceeded or breached their monthly kilowatt per hour limit.

On Monday, councillors voted that medium commercial businesses must exceed a demand of 25 kVA for a minimum of four consecutive months before being penalized with a higher rate.

Concerns expressed from several local business owners lead the city to develop a new process which will be automatically triggered if electrical usage exceeds either 5,000 kWh in a month cycle or the demand is greater than 25 kVA as measured at the billing meter.

Changes will also improve rate pay notification, awareness and education in hopes to prevent costly electrical fees to business owners who narrowly exceed the limit and are hit with a hefty charge for doing so.

This means ratepayers who are enrolled with eUtility would automatically receive a notification via email indicating which power limit has been breached, consumption and demand history as well as which account will be placed under a new four-month grace period.

Customers not enrolled with the city’s online service would receive a letter in the mail.

The city is also looking into the allocation of costs for electrical transformer upgrades that include non-cost conditions such as load shed devices or load limiters.

Additionally the city is also considering adopting incentives or programs to help customers manage their electric demand.