CHAT News File Photo

By Darren Rathwell

City defends current utility rates, adds new tool to explain fees

Feb 11, 2022 | 5:04 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – City officials say the formula in which Medicine Hat sets utility rates could change but in the meantime has created a new tool to help answer why many residents’ utility bills have seen large spikes in recent weeks.

Changes to the City of Medicine Hat’s website were unveiled Thursday, in hopes of raising understanding about rising rates following numerous complaints via social media.

The city’s website now offers explanations about a number of utility bill factors, “to really refine that information so it’s easier to follow when you look at your utility bill. You can look line by line and it explains what those lines represent,” said Jaret Dickie, the city’s manager of municipal services business support.

Image courtesy City of Medicine Hat

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The market rate for electricity is about double Medicine Hat’s fixed-rate currently, and gas is also up.

Some residents are wondering why power alone has reached a record high, considering Medicine Hat’s gas and power utilities are city-owned

The chair of the city’s utilities commission says a number of factors are involved.

“We do have to pay market pricing for fuel for running our electric utility. We don’t source our own gas anymore to run everything so,” Coun. Alison Van Dyke said

Rising maintenance costs also factor in, said Dickie.

Medicine Hat gas and power rates are based on an average of provincial fees, which industry analysts say also spiked recently for various reasons.

“We’re seeing increased consumption because it’s cold. We’re seeing increased overall grid demand because of pickups in the economy,” Joel MacDonald with EnergyRates.ca told CHAT News.

Some Hatters have posed the idea of “time of use” billing, in which people pay more during peak periods.

But the city says such a change would come with its own potential issues.

Dickie said, “It would likely require changing of behaviour if people are looking at saving money because on-peak pricing could be as much as twice as much as off-peak pricing.”

The city, however, is looking at whether change is needed to how rates are set, but such change isn’t immediate.

“It’s not a kind of thing where everybody gets their utility bill and a week later we suddenly change the direction of the city and how we operate our utilities right,” Van Dyke said.

Rather, Van Dyke says it’ll be “a bit of time” while council waits to hear back about their options from city staff.

And city bureaucrats say they’ve heard people’s dismay over their bills loud and clear.

Dickie added, “We’re certainly empathic. We’re customers too. We all live in Medicine Hat.”