Medicine Hat's billed electricity rate for August bounced off the lowest allowed cost under the best-of-market-rate rule. Kodym/Dreamstime.com

By Eli J. Ridder

Medicine Hat bounces off lowest allowed electricity rate in August cost update

Aug 1, 2024 | 10:22 AM

The City of Medicine Hat’s natural gas rates raised slightly while electricity rates bounced off its lowest allowed price for the month of August, according to pricing released by the city on Thursday.

The default rate for natural gas is now at $0.912 per gigajoule, a 118 per cent increase from July’s rate of $0.770 per gigajoule.

Medicine Hat city council in November amended the gas utility bylaw in order to provide customers with a single natural gas rate starting in 2024.

The August electricity billed rate for residential and small to medium businesses is set at $0.07705 per kilowatt hour, a slight decrease from the $0.07842 per kilowatt hour last month.

Graphic/CHAT News

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It’s the lowest possible electricity rate under the city’s Electric Utility Bylaw 2244 that was amended by council in October 2023.

Council directed the city to use a single best-of-market rate for residential, farm, small and medium commercial, unmetered services and rental lighting customers that would not exceed 11 cents per kilowatt hour or dip below a minimum rate of seven cents.

The best-of-market rate, launched in November, was put in place as a stopgap measure in response to a dramatic rise in electricity costs in 2023.

The current best of market rate is $0.05680 per kilowatt hour which, under the bylaw, defaults to the minimum $0.07000.

The August recovery rate of $0.00705 per kilowatt hour is added on to the minimum to reach the actual billed rate,

Longterm, a third-party review of the city’s energy business unit COMCO is ongoing with the goal of ensuring it is providing the best value for the community.

The results of that review is expected back later this year.

The August billed electricity rate for large commercial, industrial and street lighting customers was set at $0.09884 per kilowatt hour, an increase over the $0.08748 July rate.

‘Going Green’ charge

Customers also have a “Going Green” surcharge on their bill.

This surcharge is for renewable energy purchased for residential, farm, small and medium commercial customers.

The surcharge is calculated monthly to recover costs incurred to purchase renewable energy.

The Going Green surcharge for August is $0.0035 per kilowatt hour, unchanged from July but slightly higher than the $0.0030 rate in June and May.