Power costs rising but nothing like most summers

By Medicine Hat News on July 3, 2020.

Power prices will rise in July for Medicine Hatters, but are still hampered by decreased demand across the province and sit well below electric rates from the past two summers.

Power consumers can expect lower costs than usual during one of the highest-use periods due to air-conditioning, but power producers, including the City of Medicine Hat, will collect less revenue.

The local rate for the month, set by the city’s utility department on Thursday, is 6.58-cents per kilowatt hour, based on the average default price offered throughout the province.

That is up from 5.6-cents in June, but is one-quarter to one-third less than prices in 2018 and 2019.

Power prices and demand dropped this spring as the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic hampered business operations.

The Alberta Electric System Operator also released new forecasts Tuesday that state power use in the province has already dropped 8 per cent this spring, a situation made worse by closing in production of steeply discounted oil. It predicts only slow to modest recovery in either 2021 or 2022.

Consumer default rates across the province for July ranged from 6.16-cents from Enmax to 6.76-cents from Epcor in rural areas.

The province-wide market rate in July 2019 was 8.9-cents, though a provincial price-cap in place at the time ensured a maximum of 6.8-cents was charged on customer bills. The price in July 2018 was 7.9-cents.

The local natural gas rate for July 2020 dropped by half month to month to sit at $1.2415 per gigajoule in July, down from $3.1520 in June.

Across Alberta, the low price fell below the $1 mark, with AltaGas offering a default rate of 95.3-cents to rural customers. The high price in Alberta is from Direct Energy at $1.53.

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