Medicine Hat's natural gas rates have jumped amid colder weather. Ivanokk/Dreamstime.com

By Eli J. Ridder

ENERGY

Medicine Hat gas rate lower than a year ago, electricity holds steady

Nov 1, 2024 | 12:43 PM

The cost of natural gas in Medicine Hat is 40 per cent lower than a year ago and residential electricity continues to bounce off the lowest allowed price in the city’s November utility rates released Friday.

The default rate for natural gas, as is tradition, has jumped amid colder weather to $1.864 per gigajoule, up from October’s $0.7624 per gigajoule.

That gas rate is lower than a year ago when it was set at 2.7840 per gigajoule.

Medicine Hat’s city council in November 2023 amended the gas utility bylaw in order to provide customers with a single natural gas rate starting in 2024.

The electricity line item in residential bills will continue to remain about as low as possible.

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The November electricity billed rate for residential and small to medium businesses is set at $0.0792 per kilowatt hour, where it has has remained for three consecutive months.

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.

That rate, launched in November, was put in place as a stopgap measure in response to a dramatic rise in electricity costs in 2023.

The extra $0.00972 added to the seven cents is drawn from the City of Medicine Hat’s recovery rate, a line item that is scheduled be removed after December.

Graphic/CHAT News

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 this month.

The August billed electricity rate for large commercial, industrial and street lighting customers was set at $0.07363 per kilowatt hour.

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 November was set at $0.0035 per kilowatt hour.

The Medicine Hat Utilities Ratepayer Association is pleased with the year-over-year decrease in the gas rate.

“However, even though the cost of the commodity is under $2, the carbon tax increased 23 per cent this year to over $4 (per) gigajoule making heating our homes less affordable,” the association said, referencing the federal carbon levy.

File Photo/CHAT News

With the current best-of-market electricity rate at just below five cents, the city’s energy business is making more money than it would without the minimum cap.

“The city is reaping the benefit of the minimum they placed on us versus the market,” MHURA said.

“With such low market rates we wonder about the viability of the solar project,” the association added, in reference to Medicine Hat’s effort to get permission from the Alberta regular to purchase the rights to a solar farm in the city’s north end.

MHURA also said it anticipated when the city is scheduled to lift the recovery rate.