Electricity rates saw a slight increase in May. (Hxdylzj/Dreamstime)

By Eli J. Ridder | @EliRidder

Medicine Hat natural gas rates continue to drop for May, electricity bills rise slightly

May 1, 2024 | 10:02 AM

Medicine Hat’s natural gas rates continued to drop while electricity rates saw a slight increase for the month of May, according to numbers released by the city on Wednesday.

The default rate for natural gas is now at $1.538 per gigajoule, nearly 20 per cent less than in April and part of a downward trend that started in March.

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

The May electricity billed rate for residential and small to medium businesses is set at $0.08024 per kilowatt hour, a slight increase from the $0.07959 per kilowatt hour last month.

It’s also a continuation of the decrease that started at the beginning of the year.

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Council in October 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.

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 in 2024.

The April billed electricity rate for large commercial, industrial and street lighting customers was set at $0.07192 per kilowatt hour.

‘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 May is $0.0030 per kilowatt hour. In April it was $0.0024.