No hot air was blown during the Prince George stage of FortisBC's hearings about consolidating natural gas rates. Only six people attended the all-afternoon session at the Prince George Civic Centre on Friday.
They heard FortisBC staff explain the proposed rate amalgamation, filled out a feedback form, and had the opportunity to express any
feelings of support or opposition.
The province's main natural gas delivery company has proposed a plan to roll all six of their provincial regions and three provincially mandated rate structures into one. This change requires the permission of the BC Utilities Commisssion.
FortisBC claims this would streamline services that are currently in piecemeal fashion across the province, and balance the rates that are likewise up and down all over B.C. The lowest rates are currently in Fort Nelson where customers pay $7.44 per gigajoule, while the highest rates are around Whistler where the price is $16.64 per gigajoule. The Prince George area's rate is about $10.26 per gigajoule.
The single rate system would not make FortisBC any additional money, said spokespeople who came the northern capital on Thursday for a day of public hearings, it would simply balance the customer base and eliminate
regional fluctuations.
"Commodity rates will affect rates, but the customer base will be so much bigger - more than 940,000 customers all pooled.
"Those changes and the cost of things like capital projects won't cause major fluctuations," said Joan Isac, one of the FortisBC staff members meeting with the public, along with Jennifer
Madden and Bob Gibney.
Should the proposal be approved by the BC Utilities Commission, the rates would be homogenized across the province, meaning a big hike for those in the Fort Nelson area, a drop for those in the Whistler area and Vancouver Island, while Prince George would have an increase of about $3 per month for the average household. Those rate changes would be phased in over a couple of years.
"We operate as one company already in all practical ways, this is just the next logical step to merge the regions and rate structures on the ground into one legal entity," said Madden. "We will get a decision on the proposal probably by 2013 and perhaps earlier."
A series of public hearings across the province are scheduled to gauge support and opposition to the idea. The FortisBC website also provides a feedback form (direct link: www.fortisbc.com/
commonrates).
