City council will hear the results of the review later in 2024. (Pok Pie/CHAT News)

By Jesse Gill, Eli J. Ridder

Critical Medicine Hat energy business review to cost $590K

Mar 8, 2024 | 3:48 PM

Medicine Hat will spend $590,000 on the city’s potentially consequential third-party review of its energy business, a top official told CHAT News on Friday.

The review — to be carried out by KPMG LLC and come before council by the end of 2024 — could inform the future of the unique taxpayer-owned company.

A thorough review that includes all aspects of the business makes it a bigger investment, according to the city’s managing director of energy, land and environment Rochelle Pancoast.

“It’s a large number; we opted to add our distribution business into the review,” Pancoast said.

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Rochelle Pancoast, a city managing director, speaks to CHAT News on March 8, 2024. (CHAT News)

“We’re looking at it as a full energy business review because of various synergies and interdependencies between the delivery side of the business and the production side.”

The City of Medicine Hat owns and operates its own electric generation and natural gas production business and remains the only municipally-owned commodity business of its kind in Alberta.

After Hatters were hit with skyrocketing electricity rates in summer 2023, council last September ordered a third-party review to ensure it is providing the best value for the community.