Energy bills getting out of hand.

[firstdoo]

Got my power and natural gas bill today. I'm floored by it. My bill is $345.56 total. I calculated my actual consumption charge for electricity and natural gas. $102.30 (Before GST). Unbelievable. I live in Stony Plain, AB for reference. Here's the breakdown.

Electricity
Electricity Used (Jan 18-Feb 18) = $59.63
Admin charge = $6.72
Distribution charge = $42.36
Transmission charge = $28.02
Balance pool = $1.81
Rate Rider = $0.04 (Credit)
Franchise Fee paid to the town of STONY PLAIN = $14.08
Summary = $152.58

Natural Gas
Natural Gas used = $42.67
Admin charge = $8.70
Transaction fee = $19.72
Delivery (ATCO Fixed) = $29.31
(ATCO Varialbe) = $16.73
Rate Rider = $19.28
Municipal franchise fee paid to the town of STONY PLAIN = $19.19
Federal Carbon Tax = $20.92
Summary = $176.52

GST = $16.46
Grand Total = $345.56

Consumption (GST inluded) works out to $107.42

That means $243.26 (70.4%) of my bill is not the product purchased. I understand that we need transmission lines to get the power to homes and pipelines to get NG to homes but this seem ridiculous, and I'm sure others would agree. What's worse, and correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Alberta tax payers help pay for our power grids which were then sold to Warren Buffet by a private corporation. The charges that really bother me on this are: the transaction fees, administration fees, and the fact that there's a fee paid to my town. Looks like a municipal tax that's hidden on a utility bill for a product/service that the town has nothing to do with. Not the first time I've vented about my utility bill, we've built and lived in the same house since 2012.

And the % of fees vs product consumption are even higher in the summer months. That's my rant for today.

 

[Bogger]

I'm not going to go digging into my bills for the actual numbers but Jan 2020 was out most expensive utility month ever.

Last year my highest LNG bill was around $275 and my highest Power bill was around $325 This past month LNG was $375 and Power was $480.

That said we run 3 furnaces (house, barn, garage) with 6 people in a 3700 sq/ft house and it seems every light switch is connected to 4-8 bulbs so there are things we could do to be more efficient and maybe I will have to look into options with an increase in cost of 42.5% in one year.

 

[Summitric]

i'm not going to go digging into my bills for the actual numbers but jan 2020 was out most expensive utility month ever.

Last year my highest lng bill was around $275 and my highest power bill was around $325 this past month lng was $375 and power was $480.

That said we run 3 furnaces (house, barn, garage) with 6 people in a 3700 sq/ft house and it seems every light switch is connected to 4-8 bulbs so there are things we could do to be more efficient and maybe i will have to look into options with an increase in cost of 42.5% in one year.

do you have energy efficient lite bulbs? We replaced every bulb in our house and noticed a sizable difference in billing

 

[Bogger]

do you have energy efficient lite bulbs? We replaced every bulb in our house and noticed a sizable difference in billing

Some are still CFL but most are LED... biggest change is the removal of the rate cap on power and the carbon tax on the LNG

 

[Caper11]

Yep, Im UPC member and supporter, waiting for kenny to put money in my pocket instead of his ideas costing me more.

Imagine what our electricity will cost when more EV show up on the highways.

 

[new_nytro]

Got my power and natural gas bill today. I'm floored by it. My bill is $345.56 total. I calculated my actual consumption charge for electricity and natural gas. $102.30 (Before GST). Unbelievable. I live in Stony Plain, AB for reference. Here's the breakdown.

Electricity
Electricity Used (Jan 18-Feb 18) = $59.63
Admin charge = $6.72
Distribution charge = $42.36
Transmission charge = $28.02
Balance pool = $1.81
Rate Rider = $0.04 (Credit)
Franchise Fee paid to the town of STONY PLAIN = $14.08
Summary = $152.58

Natural Gas
Natural Gas used = $42.67
Admin charge = $8.70
Transaction fee = $19.72
Delivery (ATCO Fixed) = $29.31
(ATCO Varialbe) = $16.73
Rate Rider = $19.28
Municipal franchise fee paid to the town of STONY PLAIN = $19.19
Federal Carbon Tax = $20.92
Summary = $176.52

GST = $16.46
Grand Total = $345.56

Consumption (GST inluded) works out to $107.42

That means $243.26 (70.4%) of my bill is not the product purchased. I understand that we need transmission lines to get the power to homes and pipelines to get NG to homes but this seem ridiculous, and I'm sure others would agree. What's worse, and correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Alberta tax payers help pay for our power grids which were then sold to Warren Buffet by a private corporation. The charges that really bother me on this are: the transaction fees, administration fees, and the fact that there's a fee paid to my town. Looks like a municipal tax that's hidden on a utility bill for a product/service that the town has nothing to do with. Not the first time I've vented about my utility bill, we've built and lived in the same house since 2012.

And the % of fees vs product consumption are even higher in the summer months. That's my rant for today.

The admin fees cover the costs of providing customer care (call center and online accounts) and billing (producing and sending you a bill).

The transaction fees are typically an adder that a competitive retailer charges you in addition to the flow-though cost of gas you use. This is pure profit to the retailer as they have no risk on these products. You could arrange for fixed price product but the rate per GJ is usually a bit higher than the typical flow through rates.

The fee paid to the municipality is exactly what you suggest, a hidden municipal tax that gets paid to the municipality. Typically they justify this as a payment in lieu of property taxes on utility right of ways, but it's mostly a tax grab. Some municipalities charge up to 35% of the transmission and distribution portion (City of Edmonton) whereas some also tax the deemed value of the commodity plus a percentage (City of Calgary). Municipalities are finding that this is a great way to tax people without people realizing they are being taxed, plus people blame the retailer instead of the municipality.

Transmission and distribution make up 60-70% of the bills, maybe even more in Fortis and ATCO Electric service territory. Those fees are regulated by the AUC and need to be approved and are the same regardless of who your provider is. Typically the AUC will allow them to recover a 10% rate of return as part of their service.

The government makes the most money from your utility bill (carbon tax, GST, and municipal franchise fees). The retailers make very little.

 

[tex78]

Boy am I ever glad I only have power in b. C to pay, wood heat to make power cheaper

I can't believe the nat gas with the extra crap there now

 

[DaveB]

Boy am I ever glad I only have power in b. C to pay, wood heat to make power cheaper

I can't believe the nat gas with the extra crap there now

Don't worry...the NDP will get around to outlawing the burning of wood....or taxing the phukk out of it.

 

[ferniesnow]

It is a rip off in BC also. For the 29 days in the month of January, the Fortis BC bill is as follows........of note is the Carbon tax of $26.62 and that is 18.3% of the total bill but 28% more that the "Cost of Gas".

Cost of Gas: $20.76
Delivery Charges: $73.44
Please Pay: $145.13

People thought being in a gay parade and Scheers' stand on abortion were worthy of dumping the Conservatives. While the dropping of the Carbon Tax on the cost of heating our homes wasn't important.

 

[Ronaha]

Ya it’s such crap...all our fees are “delivery” charges more them consumed energy.

 

[firstdoo]

Boy am I ever glad I only have power in b. C to pay, wood heat to make power cheaper

I can't believe the nat gas with the extra crap there now

In July, I believe that my NG consumption was $2.50 or so and I still had a $100.00 bill on NG alone. Not sure if a wood stove would actually reduce my bill too much in the winter.

 

[LUCKY 7]

My gas bill is between $30-40 per month but I have wood heat. I do expect the wood heat to be taxed as everything else is

 

[RXN]

Last month power bill was $549.00.

 

[neilsleder]

It’s stupid what we pay! Thinking selling tee shirts on the beach of Mexico might be better and easier to do then living in the land of taxes

 

[Rjjtcross8]

Got this in a email from direct energy a lil while back. Regulated Rate Option Price Cap Has Ended

• 
  [*=left]The Alberta Government removed the Regulated Rate Option Price Cap (6.8¢/kWh) effective November 30, 2019. Consumers who are paying the Regulated Rate Option for their electricity began seeing the full electricity price reflected on their bills starting December 1, 2019.
  
  [*=left]With the removal of the rate cap, the price protection consumers enjoyed in the past will disappear, and as a result, consumers may notice greater fluctuation in their bills or potentially higher rates than what they have been used to paying.

Federal Carbon Tax

• 
  [*=left]Beginning January 1, 2020, the Canadian Federal Government will be imposing a federal carbon tax on natural gas customers living in Alberta. The tax is applied to fuels that emit greenhouse gases when combusted, including the natural gas used to heat your home or business.
  
  [*=left]The amount you pay is based on the amount of natural gas you use. The average residential customer can expect their annual heating cost to increase by 6% per year for the next three years.

 

[Rjjtcross8]

Just getting ridiculous.

 

[Stg2Suby]

Keep in mind that electricity rate cap was put in place by the NDP along with their plan to suddenly do away with the coal fired production. They did it to keep prices artificially low while they were in power, knowing full well the next government would be in place by the time it expired. Now that its' ended the costs are skyrocketing and people are naturally going to blame the current government. Very sneaky of the NDP.

 

[sirkdev]

Don't worry...the NDP will get around to outlawing the burning of wood....or taxing the phukk out of it.

Don't laugh.. for me to get my wood stove added on my policy was an extra $1000 per year... granted I am a log home. For $1000 per year I disconnected the chimney and insurance considers it out of service. Pisses me off every time I walk by it.

 

[pfi572]

Don't laugh.. for me to get my wood stove added on my policy was an extra $1000 per year... granted I am a log home. For $1000 per year I disconnected the chimney and insurance considers it out of service. Pisses me off every time I walk by it.

That’s been the norm for sometime when it comes to wood burning stoves .
Insurance takes a big jump .

 

[sirkdev]

Its funny my stove has been in my house for 20 years. (Stove was updated 6 years ago to a blaze king). Last 2 years rates went up and started to question why.. Talked to others and farm insurance is different literally no difference. Brother in law adds a wood stove in his garage in town and his rates stay the same? Its coming all round my conspiracy theory mind believes that big money will swing the insurance companies so that if you have a non taxable heat source in your home. It has F all to do with air quality etc..