RDOS happy to see a return to flat rate
Around 70 per cent of Fortis BC customers may see their rates go up incrementally in the next few years.
The utility company is proposing moving to a flat-rate system when charging customers — welcome news for rural residents of the Regional District Okanagan Similkameen, according to board chair Karla Kozakevich.
“We’re certainly happy to see that Fortis is proposing returning to a flat rate,” said Kozakevich, director for Area E (Naramata).
“Eliminating a second tier, that’s good news for rural residents or customers who have no other source of energy other than electricity.”
No customer will be impacted more than 3.5 per cent annually due to the five-year phase-in, that will close the gap between the two tiers with yearly rate changes.
Those using the least amount of energy will be impacted the most, seeing incremental increases to their rates.
Kozakevich said the changes could significantly impact low-income residents, a concern the RDOS took to the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty.
“(Low-income residents) are essentially choosing between food and heat. That’s what it comes down to for them,” Kozakevich said.
She noted the proposal may not be accepted by the B.C. Utilities Commission.
“It might get accepted and implemented immediately, it might be a three-year phase in,” Kozakevich said. “It’s good. It means they’ve been hearing us, they’ve been hearing the constituents’ complaints and they are responding to it. It just doesn’t mean that it will actually be approved.”
The current two-tiered system was put in place in 2012 to encourage conservation.
“For the most part, people who have the capacity to do that have done so, so we feel it’s time to return to a flat rate,” said Nicole Bogdanovic, communications advisor for Fortis BC.
She said around 70 per cent of Fortis customers have saved money using the two-tiered system, where customers using more than 800 kWh per month pay a larger fee.
Kozakevich said should the flat rate be approved, it likely won’t begin until about a year from now.
The proposal also includes re-establishing time-of-use rates, giving residential customers the option to reduce costs by shifting high energy use to non-peak hours.