Transformer upgrades are covered by customers and not by the City of Medicine Hat. Landfillgirl/Dreamstime.com

By Eli J. Ridder

CITY HALL

Medicine Hat city council direct staff to look into transformer replacement process options

Feb 18, 2025 | 10:57 PM

Medicine Hat city council has directed staff to report on back on the logic, clarity and fairness of the current transformer replacement process that can see residents pay thousands of dollars to upgrade electrical output to their homes.

Coun. Andy McGrogan’s motion at Tuesday’s meeting directs staff to report back by the end of June on the issue. That report could lead to changes and clarity, he said.

“Let’s be fair and let’s let people know up front exactly what it is and then they can make an informed decision,” McGrogan told reporters.

Under current city policy, if a customer requests additional electrical service capacity requiring a transformer upgrade, then the customer must fully fund the entire cost to replace the asset to the betterment of all adjoining residents — without anyone else pitching in.

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The councillor gave an example where a resident wanted to add a garage with a secondary suite to his property but the homeowner was told by the city he needed to pay thousands of dollars to upgrade the electrical infrastructure.

“Before he even starts the project, he’s paying for an off-site transformer that the whole neighbourhood could tap into at that point,” said McGrogan.

“There’s no mechanism, really, for city utilities to collect from the other people that tap in to help him pay for that $20,000 investment that he’s made himself.”

A proposal was included in last year’s capital budget deliberations for the city to shoulder the transformer upgrade costs, but that item was deferred.

Staff recommended the city “fund transformer‐only upgrades required to accommodate increased residential and commercial service capacity requests” — but acknowledged it would come at an estimated cost of $252,000 in both 2025 and 2026.

McGrogan hopes the staff report will offer a roadmap that could see costs split.

“I’m not saying put it back in the budget, I’m saying is there some kind of a blueprint that would work that was maybe in the middle of what they’re proposing?” McGrogan said.

Alison Van Dyke, another councillor, agrees there is room for improvement and looks forward to learning from staff research.

“We are keeping abreast of developments and changes in all jurisdictions around that because electrification is changing the needs and communities very rapidly,” Van Dyke said.

“Something that maybe have was investigated two years ago that came to committee might be stale information now and it doesn’t hurt to have a look and see if there’s new developments new policies and new payment options.”

Coun. Shila Sharps is looking forward to having a construction council debate later this year.

“We need to help a little bit here and I think other communities do,” Sharps said.

“The motion was to go get back and get that bring that information bring it back publicly.”