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By Eli J. Ridder | @EliRidder

New Alberta electricity market rules will bring down rates, decrease Medicine Hat energy profits

Mar 12, 2024 | 4:53 PM

Alberta’s new electricity market rules will have an indirect impact in Medicine Hat by bringing down rates for residents while decreasing revenues for the city, an official said Tuesday.

The province is putting in place a pair of temporary measures to discourage the use of economic withholding by power generators.

The practice is not illegal, but has been highly criticized recently as one of the factors that has contributed to soaring consumer power bills in the province.

READ MORE: Alberta government announces new rules for electricity generators

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Alberta’s new rules aim to curb those costs.

The city-owned utility sets a best-of-market rate based on an average from the rest of province.

Medicine Hat residents will experience lower electricity rates in the coming months because of the best-of-market rate approach, energy and business analysis manager Travis Tuchscherer said.

Travis Tuchscherer, energy and business analysis manager with the City of Medicine Hat, speaks with CHAT News. (Adrian St.Onge/CHAT News)

“It will have a downward pressure on the market prices therefore I think consumers will be happy with the temporary measure put in place,” Tuchscherer said.

“From a generator perspective, it will have a negative impact on revenues for power producers in Alberta.”

That could mean lower profits when the city sells power into the provincial grid, like it did earlier this year.

— with files from the Canadian Press