People online have been getting upset due to a letter from the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC), saying that Pacific Northern Gas (PNG) recently submitted an application to the for 2025, 2026 and 2027 rates.
Because of course, any time this happens, rates go up.
But what some folks failed to notice is that gas rates are going down, at least here in Tumbler Ridge.
According to a letter from PNG, residential customers in Fort St. John and Dawson Creek will see their natural gas prices increase by about $3/month, while small commercial customers will be paying about $10 more a month.
But the average customer in Tumbler Ridge? Should see their bill drop by about $4/month, while small commercial customers will see their bill decrease about $17/month.
And that’s before factoring in the impact of the carbon tax rollback.
In Fort St. John, residential customers can expect about $33 back from the federal government ditching the carbon tax, leading to a decrease of about $30 for their bills. In Dawson Creek, that impact is a bit smaller—$31 less, leading to a $28 reduction in the amount customers will pay each month.
And in Tumbler Ridge, the average customer can expect to see their bill drop another $24 with no carbon tax. For small businesses in Tumbler Ridge, the overall bill decrease is $155.
These, of course, are average numbers, based on the average amount of natural gas people use on a monthly basis, and is not a hard and fast figure.
These approximate nine percent increases in Fort St. John and Dawson Creek and two percent decrease in Tumbler Ridge would be for the next three years.
According to Gordon Doyle, President of PNG, the company strives to keep rates as low as possible. “However, these increases are necessary due to higher costs to support the continued safety and reliability of PNG’s natural gas system. Delivery costs are primarily impacted by higher operational expenses, most notably the impacts of inflation driving up the cost of capital and labour.”
In addition, he says, the pipelines the company owns have been in operation for over 60 years, and need to be upgraded. “The work we undertake is to ensure compliance with the codes, standards and regulations overseen by the BC Energy Regulator. Our financial investments in our system are reviewed and ultimately approved by the BCUC.”
While it is nice to see rates going down for Tumbler Ridge, it does not address what, if anything, will be happening to the Tumbler Ridge gas plant.
Last year, PNG was planning on investing nearly $5 million into the gas plant, but in February of this year, it withdrew its application before the BCUC, saying “PNG continues to engage with its gas supplier regarding the alternate gas supply arrangement but has not yet reached agreement on the new supply proposal; and is uncertain whether agreement can be reached in a timely manner. As a result, PNG cannot assess the prudence and commercial viability of moving forward with the proposal presented in the application. Consequently, PNG lacks sufficient confidence in its future gas supply to justify the proposed investment in the Tumbler Ridge Gas Plant at present. PNG is continuing to reassess its gas supply options for the Tumbler Ridge service area and will submit any appropriate applications to the BCUC when it believes an application is warranted.”
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.
