For the fifth month in a row, pure fuel costs in Alberta are usually not excessive sufficient to set off the provincial rebate.
The province issued a bulletin Thursday saying February’s default pure fuel price is $3.715 per gigajoule (GJ), effectively beneath the $6.50 per GJ set off price and January’s $6.446 per GJ.
When the pure fuel rebate was initially introduced, it was to run for the six-month interval between September 2022 and March 2023, however the authorities not too long ago stated it might be prolonged as a part of the affordability motion plan.
“We look ahead to offering extra info within the coming months,” Affordability and Utilities Minister Matt Jones Andrea Farmer stated in an announcement.
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Nonetheless, electrical energy costs go in the wrong way.
Information from the Alberta Utilities Fee confirmed Friday that the regulated price choice (RRO) – the default price for electrical energy clients not on a contract – rose once more.
Enmax clients in Calgary will see RRO costs rise from about 27 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) to just about 29.7 cents per kWh in February. Epcor and Fortis RRO clients can count on costs to rise from 30 cents per kWh to virtually 33 cents per kWh. Direct Vitality RRO charges will leap from 27 to 32.7 cents per kWh.
College of Calgary economics assistant professor Blake Shaffer tweeted the rates are new all-time records.
Albertans on RRO won’t must pay the total burden of the continued excessive costs beneath the federal government’s electrical energy value safety.
From January to March, any costs above 13.5 cents per kWh will probably be refunded over the 21-month interval from April 2023 to December 2024.
Shaffer stated the overall value of the electrical energy value cap would exceed $200 million.
The opposition stated the federal government is “mismanaging” the electrical energy system and stated “their incompetence means Albertans will probably be caught paying greater payments.”
“Albertans are already struggling to maintain the lights on and put meals on the desk, however month after month the price of electrical energy has risen beneath the CAP with virtually no assist for Albertans,” Edmonton-Manning MLA Heather Candy stated in an announcement.
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Boer stated the province is engaged on long-term enhancements to power affordability.
“Alberta’s authorities is offering actual reduction to assist Albertans pay their electrical energy payments this winter whereas making long-term enhancements to the electrical energy system to assist decrease prices within the coming years,” the spokesperson stated, pointing to the $500 electrical energy rebates and $600. in complete affordability funds to eligible Albertans as different methods the federal government helps.
Sweat criticized the obvious lack of motion on excessive electrical energy costs, saying as a substitute that the federal government “kicked the can down the highway till after the election.”
Underneath the earlier authorities, Albertans had a unique sort of value safety: a price cap of 6.8 cents per kWh. It was scrapped after the 2019 election.
Whereas costs subsequent month are virtually 5 instances greater than the outdated cap, they have not at all times been this excessive prior to now 12 months.
In Could 2022, RRO charges from all utilities hovered round 10 cents per kWh.
The province’s Affordability Motion Plan web site recommends that Albertans can change to a hard and fast price, which is obtainable on a futures contract. Present charges on five-year phrases from the above firms fluctuate from 12.6 to 16.2 cents per kWh.
Utilities additionally supply pure fuel mounted price contracts.
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