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By Darren Rathwell

‘These are our citizens’: Medicine Hat council approves utility bill relief

Feb 22, 2022 | 11:16 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — Medicine Hat city council approved a potential $2.2 million package of utility bill relief Monday night, including options such as a conditional credit, a payment deferral plan, and a late fee waiver.

Following numerous complaints about skyrocketing utility bills by several Medicine Hat residents, council instructed staff to devise recommendations for payment relief.

Coun. Robert Dumanowski told CHAT News the money to pay for the new measures will come from city reserves.

And while the changes received unanimous support from council members, some offered cautious endorsements.

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“Council did put significant dollars forward for COVID relief (during the pandemic). We did it not once, we did it twice. And it would be strangely easy to do it a third time,” said Dumanowski. “The challenge will always be (around) creating expectation (of further relief), and that sounds bad. That sounds selfish, almost around what the city can do and what it will do.”

Dumanowski also noted re-evaluation of how the city sets utility rates has begun, saying it “should” happen, and he added, “I’m proud we’re taking some time to do that very carefully.”

Coun. Ramona Robins, meanwhile, said she wished the utility relief recommendations had gone further to help the city’s most vulnerable.

“I feel like sometimes we say ‘the provincial government will do something about this. Or the provincial government has a program.’ These are our citizens.”

The changes are expected to take effect on the next bill of impacted customers, but which option a customer can take will depend on various factors.

According to city documents, the relief options include a credit for “customers who qualify for fixed-rate pricing and choose to sign up for fixed-rate pricing prior to Feb. 28.”

And the credit will amount to “the difference between the monthly market rate and fixed rate for the 2022 previous month’s billing cycle.”

The city says there are 17,000 residents eligible to receive the credit, with a cost to the city of up to $2.2 million, but it’s yet to be seen how many people will apply for the credit.

As well, the city is waiving the 2.56 per cent utility late payment fee on residents’ next utility statement.

Customers can also claim a one-time utility incentive credit, which would amount to $25, after a EnerGuide Home Evaluation is carried out. Residents must also have a Jan. 2022 utility bill that increased greater than 20 per cent over their bill in January 2021 to qualify.

Meanwhile, customers on the city’s deferred payment plan can spread their January bill repayment over a 12-month period.

Residents are encouraged to contact collections@medicinehat.ca to set up payment arrangements.