Achi news desk-
The national price on pollution will rise by $15 a tonne today. Here are some questions answered about what this might mean for you.
Who pays the carbon price?
Canada has two different carbon pricing programs – one for large industry where companies pay the price on a portion of their actual emissions, and a consumer carbon levy that is applied to fossil fuel purchases. The user levy affects individuals, small and medium businesses, First Nations, as well as public sector operations such as hospitals, universities, schools and municipalities.
The April 1 price change affects the user levy, which applies in all provinces and territories except British Columbia, Quebec and the Northwest Territories.
BC and the Northwest Territories have their own very similar carbon charge for consumers. Quebec has a cap-and-trade system that is quite different, but Ottawa considers it equivalent to what the federal price costs and cuts in terms of emissions.
What is the consumer carbon levy applied to?
The fuel charge is added to the price of more than 20 different fuel sources that produce greenhouse gas emissions when burned for energy, including gasoline, propane, diesel and natural gas. The additional cost for each fuel depends on the amount of greenhouse gases produced when that fuel is burned to make energy.
A liter of diesel produces more carbon dioxide than a liter of petrol, for example, so the carbon price is higher on a liter of diesel than it is on petrol.
What is this increase going to do to the price of fuel?
The effect will be similar in all provinces except Quebec.
Gasoline: Going from $65 per tonne to $80, means that the price of carbon on a liter of gasoline will now be 17.6 cents per litre, up 3.3 cents per liter before. That means filling an empty 50 liter tank will cost around $8.80 in carbon price, around $1.65 more than before.
Diesel: From today the price for a liter of diesel will include 21.39 cents in carbon price, up from 17.38 cents.
Propane: The price of propane will now include 12.38 cents per liter in carbon price, up from 10.08 cents. A standard 20-pound barbecue propane tank will cost about $2.20 in carbon price to fill, compared to $1.78 over the past year.
Natural gas: On average in Canada, households use about 2,280 cubic meters of natural gas in a year, mostly for heating. At $80 per metric ton, the carbon price will add 15.3 cents to a cubic meter of natural gas, up from 12.4 cents previously. That equates to an annual carbon price bill for natural gas of about $347 on average, compared to $282 over the past year.
Food and clothing and other goods: There are indirect costs of carbon pricing, as companies that pay the price themselves increase the cost of their goods and services to keep up. The amounts vary by industry, but Statistics Canada estimated that carbon pricing has increased the price of food by about 0.3 per cent and the price of clothing by two per cent since its inception. The impact of the latest increase is yet to be determined.
How much will Canada’s Carbon Refund help?
The states that pay the federal carbon price also receive the federal rebate. BC and the Northwest Territories in turn provide their own rebates which are slightly different.
The BC rebate, for example, is based on income, and about a third of all households in the province do not qualify for it.
The federal refund, which is deposited or mailed out four times a year, is divided among households based on family size, not by income. Every year Environment and Climate Change Canada calculates the expected revenue from carbon pricing in each province, and by law it must return 90 per cent of that revenue in refunds. Part of the remaining 10 per cent is going to increase the repayments of rural residents by 20 per cent. Some of the rest has been earmarked to help businesses become more fuel efficient, but those programs have been very slow to roll out. Most businesses have had nothing in the five years since carbon pricing began.
The rebates increase as the price rises, but this year many homes in the Atlantic states will not see an increase. That is because almost a third of homes in those states use heating oil and since October have been exempted from paying the carbon price. That reduction is reflected in the refund amounts.
The rebates vary because carbon pricing totals vary based on things like heat use and driving distances. Alberta and Saskatchewan, for example, typically use more natural gas for heating per household than Ontario or Manitoba.
The next repayment is due on April 15. Here are the quarterly amounts, by state, for an individual, a couple, and a family of four. In single parent households, the first child is treated the same as a spouse for the amount of the refund.
Rural residents, who tend to drive longer distances, will receive 20 per cent more.
Yukon and Nunavut pay the federal carbon price but have their own unique rebate programs.
Alberta:
Single: $225 Couple: $337.50 Family of four: $450
Saskatchewan:
Single: $188 Couple: $282 Family of four: $376
Manitoba; Single: $150 Couple: $225 Family of four: $300
Ontario:
Single: $140 Couple: $210 Family of four: $280
New Brunswick:
Single: $95 Couple: $142.50 Family of four: $190
Nova Scotia:
Single: $103 Couple: $154.50 Family of four: $206
Prince Edward Island:
Single: $110 Couple: $165 Family of four: $220*
*All households in PEI are considered rural and the rebates for all include the 20 per cent surcharge.
Newfoundland and Labrador:
Single: $149 Couple: $223.50 Family of four: $298
This report was first published by The Canadian Press on April 1, 2024.
Ad blocking test (Why?)
Source link
Related
