By Chris Brown

Four immediate proposals

NDP calls for action on high utility bills

Mar 30, 2021 | 5:07 PM

CALGARY – Alberta’s NDP urging the government to give Albertans immediate relief from their electricity and utility bills and reinstate a price cap.

The NDP says the Office of the Utilities Consumer Advocate (UCA) cites a number of contributing factors to the upswing in prices in Alberta. These include increased consumption while people are staying home under COVID-19 public health orders and increased use during the winter, as well as increased costs for natural gas and electricity and increased transmission and distribution charges.

“There’s a compounding effect here and it’s hammering household budgets,” says NDP Leader Rachel Notley. “Many Albertans have to use more natural gas and electricity if they work from home or spend more time at home to help protect their communities from the spread of COVID. Couple that with soaring prices for natural gas and electricity and you’re seeing massive bills and no relief for families.”

READ MORE: Supply and demand a factor in utility rate spike, city says

In 2016, the NDP Government capped electricity prices under the Regulated Rate Option at 6.8 cents per kilowatt hour; however, Jason Kenney and the UCP removed it in late 2019.

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The NDP is urging the government to take four immediate actions:

• Provide direct consumer relief to two-thirds of Albertans (those earning up to $55,000 annually as an individual or $102,500 per couple). Model the relief program after the COVID-19 Energy Assistance Program offered by the Government of Ontario, which provided customers with up to $750 in support both their electricity and natural gas bills. Consumers can apply for relief on both bills separately, providing total potential relief of $1,500.
• Reinstate the Regulated Rate Option cap for electricity at 6.8 cents per kilowatt hour.
• Reinstate the Utility Payment Deferral Program, which allowed consumers and businesses to defer payment of bills but which ended last June.
• Ban all utility shutoffs for Alberta homes until the pandemic ends and public health orders are lifted.

“We need action to help Albertans in this time of great need,” Notley says. “People doing the right thing and staying closer to home during this pandemic should not be penalized for doing so. We need real consumer relief from these glaring utility bills and we need it to last for the duration of the pandemic, no matter when it might end.”