You will be paying more to stay warm in the New Year.
FortisBC has received regulatory approval from the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) on its interim rates for natural gas customers to take effect January 1, 2019.
“We strive to deliver natural gas safely and reliably at the lowest reasonable cost,” said Diane Roy, vice-president of Regulatory Affairs, FortisBC, in a news release. “Keeping natural gas rates low for customers is important to us but there has been an impact to our costs associated with actions we had to take to stabilize our natural gas supply following the Enbridge pipeline rupture.”
Below is the breakdown of residential changes for each region. Rates will be effective January 1, 2019.
- Residential customers in the Mainland and Vancouver Island service area will see an approximate overall annual increase of nine per cent or $68 based on an average annual usage of 90 gigajoules (GJ).
- Residential customers in Fort Nelson will see an approximate annual increase of seven per cent or $51 based on an average annual usage of 125 GJ.
- Residential customers in Revelstoke receiving piped propane will see an approximate annual decrease of 11 per cent or $108 based on an average annual usage of 50 GJ.
The rate changes for all customers are interim and subject to regulatory review by the BCUC. Permanent rate decisions are expected in the first quarter of 2019, which, once received, may result in a bill adjustment for customers.
Next year also marks the first year where natural gas customers in Fort Nelson are receiving an unbundled bill. Fort Nelson has moved to a rate structure where the gas commodity and delivery are shown as separate line items on a customer’s bill. This includes the fixed daily or monthly basic charges, and the variable delivery, storage and transport, and cost of gas charges per gigajoule. This change will align the natural gas billing components across all of the regions that FortisBC serves.