High gas bill sparks call for revolt
After running the numbers on his latest natural gas bill -- just 15% of which was for the product he actually used -- a Summerland man is calling on other frustrated customers to join him in a revolt.
“If I went to a mechanic and he did this to me, he’d never have my business again,” said Brent Ponton in an interview Monday outside his 70-year-old home on Giant’s Head Road.
“But we can’t just shop anywhere.”
Ponton’s latest bill from FortisBC, which has a virtual monopoly on the distribution of natural gas in the province, covered the period from Jan. 10 through Feb. 6, 2024. During that period, he burned 16.5 gigajoules of natural gas, at an all-in cost of $233.44.
However, actual gas usage, which was billed at $2.23 per GJ, accounted for just $36.80 of the end price.
Delivery of that gas was billed at $6.71 per GJ, for a total of $110.68.
Storage and transport of that gas was billed at $0.24 per GJ, for a total of $3.94.
On top of that came the provincial carbon tax, which was billed at $3.24 per GJ, for a total of $53.43.
And, finally, the GST on all that was 5%, for a total of $11.08.
Smaller costs for a clean energy levy, basic system charge and municipal operating fee made up the rest of the bill.
Little of it makes sense to Ponton, who uses natural gas for hot water and home heating.
“I question how I get charged storage and transport separate from delivery. Transport and delivery, to me, is one and the same thing,” he said.
“And how the hell do they charge more for the carbon tax than the gas you actually paid for?”
Ponton, who works as a local bus driver, has taken his questions to FortisBC, the B.C. Utilities Commission and the region’s politicians, none of whom offered him any practical solutions to tame his gas bills.
“A person can only do so much to airtight his house. I’ve done as much as I can, shy of basically boarding up all the windows for winter,” he said.
The Herald asked FortisBC to respond in detail to Ponton’s questions, but the utility company instead replied with a general statement about gas prices.
“As an energy solutions provider regulated by the British Columbia Utilities Commission, FortisBC reviews its delivery and storage and transport rates each year. This is done to ensure the rates charged to customers appropriately recover the costs related to providing energy safely and reliably,” said the statement from spokesman Gary Toft.
“These rates help cover the costs of maintaining the system and investments in infrastructure to ensure ongoing system integrity and reliability.
“We also review the cost of gas rates each quarter with the BCUC. There is no mark up on the cost of gas, you pay what we pay. It’s important to note that cost of gas rate is the market price of the commodity itself. FortisBC buys gas from producers and passes the commodity cost on to our customers at exactly what we paid for it.”
Toft also noted most FortisBC customers were expected to see their monthly bills drop by 1%, effective Jan. 1, 2024, as a result of a price decrease in the wholesale gas market.
Ponton -- who noted FortisBC parent company Fortis Inc. recorded net earnings of $1.5 billion in 2023, while raising the per-share dividends from $0.565 to $0.59 -- has heard all that before. Now, he’s ready for action.
“You’ve got to throw something back at them. Being one person among hundreds of thousands of customers, they don’t give a damn about you. But a couple hundred thousand banging at their door? They’ve got to take you in,” he said.
“There’s got to be a lawyer out there willing to come forward and help us. There’s got to be someone who’s worked for the gas company who can come forward and give us some inside pointers.”
Anyone interested in joining Ponton’s fight can reach him at: fortisrebellion@hotmail.com