NDP cracks down on bad billing practices
New legislation will penalize electricity and natural gas companies for billing errors instead of forcing consumers to launch a lengthy legal process.
“There was just no mechanism,” Energy Minister Marg McCuaigBoyd told a Thursday news conference.
“It’s going to make companies take notice and perhaps be a little more attentive to their practices.”
If passed, Bill 13 — An Act to Secure Alberta’s Electricity Future — gives the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) the power to fine companies up to $10,000 daily per infraction.
“Kind of like speeding tickets,” McCuaig-Boyd said, adding consumers who have been overcharged or billed late would benefit under the new rules. “Right now, the only enforcement tool is a long and costly hearing process.”
The government received more than 2,000 emails about billing complaints for electricity and natural gas service in 2017. There were nearly 7,000 customer service complaints in total.
It’s a small fraction of the estimated 1.8 million electricity customers and 1.3 million natural gas customers in Alberta.
But McCuaig-Boyd said there is little recourse for people who notice discrepancies in a power bill.
“If it’s a few dollars each month, those are dollars that matter,” she said.
The penalties could be in place by the end of the year.
Power companies continue to face administrative penalties spelled out by the utilities commission. The fines can cost companies up to $1 million per day for major wrongdoing.
In 2015, electricity provider TransAlta was ordered to pay out $56 million for manipulating power markets in the province after an investigation by Alberta’s Market Surveillance Administrator. The agency found the company had shut down four power plants to boost prices during peak-demand hours in 2010-11.
Bill 13 brings in other changes, including regulations to overhaul Alberta’s electricity system in its transition to a capacity market.
The government promised those changes in November 2016 and plans to flip the switch by 2021.
Under the current energy-only market, providers produce electricity and sell their product without concern for how much power is left in the grid. But a capacity market aims to ensure demand for electricity is always met through contracts with power companies.
The current market is volatile and causes wild swings in prices, McCuaig-Boyd said.
She said the bill “lays the groundwork for ... a system that will protect Albertans from price swings and poor service.”