By Nick Clark
Alberta's lowest electricity prices in 20 years
We want to show how you can shift your current reliance on fossil fuels. Click here.
Here’s the problem that consumers tell us about most often: They don’t understand their utility bill.
In March, an increasing number of homeowners in Alberta bought electricity on the Floating Rate between 2.165 and 2.595 cents per kWh. The 9-month average is 3.5 cents.
What are you paying? Send me a copy of your utility bill and we might be able to show you how to save some money: Nick.Clark@GreenAlbertaEnergy.ca
If you don’t understand how to save on your utility bill; it’s easy to overpay. There's also never any left-over cash to help green the grid. Lots of consumers in Alberta still are on the Government Regulated Rate or paying 7 to 8 cents per kWh to the big utilities. Imagine, during March, many Alberta consumers paid under 3 cents per kWh! Last month alone, as an average residential consumer, you could have kept an extra $20 to $40 in your own pocket.
My hope is the following information helps to simplify the numbers.
Consumers can choose their utility retailer
The cost of energy and administration fees are deregulated and retailers will offer a number of different terms and rates.
- It’s simple. The choice of retailer will impact what you pay for the energy you consume.
- It’s guaranteed. Your choice of retailer will not disrupt the delivery of energy to your home.
- It’s safe. There are no cancellation fees.
All other fees on your utility bill are regulated
Based on where you live, the cost of delivery in Alberta is expensive. You cannot escape the high fees charged by ATCO and other Wire Service Providers. That's frustrating because some of the regulated numbers are discouraging. It's little wonder that consumers increasingly are considering adding a PV solar system to their homes in an attempt to escape the grid and try to reduce the delivery costs. Here is a snap shot of what consumers actually paid broken down into cents per kWh for ease of comparison.
Energy analytics say it's time to cut your costs
There are 1000 residential customers in the sample size in each of the 4 major wires zones, each consuming on average about 700 kWh per month. A 9-month average Floating Rate of 3.5 cents per kWh was used for comparative purposes. Yet, it should be noted that the actual cost of energy today is running 25% below the 3.5 cent average rate used in this study. While the cost of energy has declined, sadly, some of the wire companies have received approval from the AUC to add a Rate Rider to their fees which will result in the Regulated Wires charges nudging upwards this spring. Since regulated distribution costs are going up, NOW is the right time to try to cut your cost of the energy you consume.
A home owner in ATCO Territory, who consumed 700 kWh in a month would have paid $150.31 for their utilities compared to a similar consumer living in Edmonton who would have paid just $80.48 for the same usage of energy. Understandably, it costs more to deliver energy in the northern rural region compared to the cost of running wires in urban markets.
3 steps to save money on your utility bill
- Switching retailers is easy and supporting local independent retailers is a good thing to do. Here are the facts: Both Direct and Atco shipped customer care and billing jobs out of the province and contracted with firms over in India. When the economy is in the dumps, it is important tighten your belt and support local companies. There are lots of great choices – Click Here for a list of Local Retailers.
- Changing to the Floating Rate reduces your energy costs. Use the savings to support the needs of your family and use a bit of the savings to help green the grid.
- Greening the Grid is affordable. Did you know you could add just 15% green to your energy consumption and it would cost you just 5 to 6 cents per day?
For more information on Greening the Grid, visit www.GreenAlbrtaEnergy.ca