Achi news desk-
Calgary’s mayor is sparring with the Alberta Government over the introduction of new legislation meant to lower utility bills in Calgary.
On Monday, the province announced plans to amend the Municipal Government Act and ban cities from using variable rates to calculate local access fees on power bills.
Electricity customers are currently charged a local access fee, which is used to compensate a municipality for using its property to provide electricity services.
Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said Calgary already has a plan to bring down local entry fees, which was approved in March, and is expected to be implemented in 2027.
He blamed the province for the long schedule.
“It is because of the complexity of having to change existing agreements and getting approvals for new agreements that our utility will probably have to spend that much time to get the approvals from the Alberta Utilities Commission,” Gondek said Tuesday.
“If the minister would like to cut that bureaucracy, he certainly can. We don’t have the ability to do that.”
Alberta Affordability and Utilities Minister Nathan Neudorf said it was “false and misleading” for Gondek to blame the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUS) for the delay in changes to Calgary access fees.
“The AUC has confirmed to us that any future applications would take less than three months, not three years as the mayor is suggesting,” said Neudorf, in an emailed statement Wednesday.
“The Alberta Utilities Commission has not received an application from the City of Calgary since 2017, which was fully processed in just two and a half months. The City of Calgary needs to take responsibility for this issue. Since he hasn’t done that, the province will.”
While the province offered an embargoed technical briefing on the legislation ahead of time, Gondek said city officials were unaware of changes until they were announced.
“If we have a provincial government that would like to work with us on creating affordability, we would love to do that,” he said.
What are local entry fees?
Local access fees must be approved by the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC), which cannot exceed 20 percent of the distribution charge for electricity and 35 percent of the distribution charge for natural gas, and are regulated by Act Municipal Government.
Edmonton and Calgary have agreements with Council-owned subsidiaries, which exempt them from requiring AUC approval.
Edmonton follows a usage-based calculation for its fees, while Calgary bases theirs partly on market rates.
As a result, Calgary customers can see fees vary wildly, depending on the price of electricity or gas.
The government says Calgarians paid an average of $240 in local access fees in 2023 compared to the $75 paid by Edmontonians during the same period.
With files from Karyn Mulcahy of CTV News Edmonton
