FortisBC Hiking Natural Gas Rates
Prince George, B.C. – Natural gas rates are going up.
FortisBC announced today it has received approval from the BC Utilities Commission (BCUC) to increase gas rates beginning October 1, 2016.
“Natural gas prices have risen since spring 2016. The hotter-than-normal summer, for most of Canada and the US, has resulted in higher-than-expected continental demand for electricity, which is often generated by natural gas,” said Dennis Swanson, vice president of energy supply, FortisBC.
“This, combined with a slowdown in natural gas production, has led to an increase in prices during the past few months.”
FortisBC reviews natural gas and propane cost of gas rates every three months. Factors affecting prices in North America include weather, supply and demand and economic conditions. Propane prices are also influenced by global oil markets.
The majority of natural gas customers will see an increase to their cost of gas rate of $0.909 per gigajoule (GJ), meaning the cost of gas rate will change from $1.141/GJ to $2.050/GJ.2
These changes will result in an increase of approximately $82 annually for residential customers, based on the average use of 90 GJ per year.
Comments
Well I’ll just snap my fingers and get a raise to cover the increasing cost of natural gas, ICBC, groceries, gas, electricity rates etc etc. Review every 3 months….yup I’ll do the same with my wages see where that gets me. Where will it end?!
They are making “The are trying to make Greed look respectful
I agree with Waldo. Where does it end?? Our wages can’t keep up with all these increases
This probably Kristy’s way of getting back at British Columbians
The BC Premier is in charge of FortisBC? Since when?
Thank god for site c to help with the power generation. This way we can stop using so much natural gas to create power. Something stinks here but it ain’t the natural gas.
Total spin. Natural gas has glutted the market over the last several years and continues to do so. Factors such as a slowdown in production are only very temporary and are easily remedied. We should be paying less for natural gas not more.
86% of British Columbia’s electricity is generated by hydroelectric sources, natural gas generated electricity accounts for about 8%. So why are our natural gas rates going up??? Looks like we, the consumer, are about to subsidize the fossil fuel industry suffering from low energy prices.
The fossil fuel industry is losing billions a year and they are now looking at us to shore up those loses… alternative energy can’t come soon enough to end these rip-off artists at our gas stations and at our natural gas meters!!!
Wish we could get a 79.7% increase in our pensions
Really? It certainly seems like the “supply vs demand” market theory is a little bit skewed. Prices go up, rates go up. Prices come down…well, some hole-in-the-earth place had a hot summer….or maybe it was a cold region in the winter.. OH whatever, SORRY, but we will give some lame excuse to keep the rates artificially inflated. Just like they do with big oil.
I though that there was so much natural gas supply in the market that it was not feasable to pursue Kristy’s “Natural gas dream”?
I have a question for all the Carbon experts:
Considering the fuel used, the fracking damage and the other “hidden issues” with delivering NG to my house… is it still cleaner in the end than for me to cut down dead trees and burn them in my efficient wood furnace…. because that is exactly what I many others are going to be turning to.
BC Utility Commission rarely denies rate hikes… I would guess they are all very wealthy people who dont need to worry about getting food, clothing and a roof over their families while paying a ridiculous price for heating fuel that comes out of the ground for free.
…resulted in higher-than-expected continental demand for electricity…”
Site C can contribute to the continental demand once it is up and running! Great! Alternative energy sources are to oil and gas are on the way! Great!
It is high time because of ACD, Anthropogenic Climate Disruption.
Whatever happened with that deal years ago, Lord Dan Rogers negotiated with Terason Gas with the city?
That was Lord Colin Kinsley and it was with Terasen and its still years away before the city gets the money.
There new hot keys in this forum? My post went to the end and not as a reply…?
They have already spent some of the money I do believe
BS. I stubbed my toe the other day. Somebody needs to pay.
Pretty good increase in gas cost. Works out to 79%.
I guess Fortis doesn’t look at the commodities chart. CNBC has a available a 1 year chart for natural gas. According to their chart Sept 2015 natural gas cost is virtually identical to Sept 2016.
Gas delivered to the Henry Hub is far cheaper than what residents of BC pay.
Another Christy Clark families first policy.
Anybody is free to sign up with the companies that knock on doors from time to time offering a fixed price on gas for the term of the contract. The only problem that you will still be paying that price if the price drops. I have seen the horror stories on tv of people trying to get out of their contract…..no thanks! Last guy that was here was so aggressive I just closed the door in his face.
I know in our household the bill is currently less than it was a number of years ago. Even with the estimated increase of $82/house it is still lower than it was.
I can turn down the heat a bit ,or even turn it off.Somehow we the people have allowed the gas distributor attach a static randomly calculated charge to the meter attached to my house.This company has been traded like hockey cards among the billionaires in the U,S. I suspect B.C hydro will soon use this same tactic.
Anyone out there now think they might have to raise the min wage to a living wage? I am going to put in a request at Costco to see if they can supply us with natural gas instead of BS and lies.
You are damaged oldman. If you think 15$ minimum won’t cause more problems than your fantasy island world you live in…..your beyond hope and brains.
Search took no longer than 10 minutes, piece of cake when you know how to use site search engine, time well spent to show hipocrisy on your part(again).
dow7501–If I am damaged then I would have to say about 75% of the population is in the same boat and as far as being beyond Hope I would have to say you might be right because I think hope is about 635KM south of us.
So there is such an over abundance of natural gas that all the LNG investments for BC have been axed or postponed.. But our rates are going up… Gouging…
One thinks because there is a down turn in the natural gas and they are loosing money FortisBC gets government approval to increases and dump the there looses on the people of BC to pick up the final lose. What a crock of poop. Still have a couple of grandfathered fireplaces so I guess I will be adding to air quality in the PG bowl this winter.
If one is too upset one can change the supplier from FortisBC to another one! NG is not a state run monopoly yet and freedom of choice still rules the day!
Another local news website has a chart showing the gas price over the last 10 years. Price was about $8/GJ in 2006 rising to $10/GJ in 2008. Other than a few bumps up it has been a pretty much steady deline in price since then so even with the announced increase it will still be cheaper than what we have been paying for most of the last decade.
Yes back in the day when the NDP where in power natural gas prices reached 10.46/gj and really high in 2006 and 2008 as well. So at 2.05 we are getting a bargain. What horrible comments JGalt. Can you not see it?
Please do not remind me of the NDP lost decade! From #1 in Canada to dead last #10 in ten years, qualifying for transfer payments. Five premiers in a row could not undo the damage that had been done to B.C.
I remember the NDP and its two remaining members in the Legislature, an unprecedented verdict to clean house by the voters who had enough of the NDP shenanigans.
What a nerve to bad name the government which is running the affairs of B.C. now! None are so blind as those who have eyes but refuse to see!
I don’t know what all the complaining is about. My last gas bill the cost of gas was $2.97. Guess what…carbon tax was $3.87 and clean energy levy was .11. Of course there are delivery costs etcetera. But I ask…….who is gouging who when the tax is more than the product?
I don’t have a small house and I consider natural gas to be a very good price compared to hydro costs.
But I ask…….who is gouging who when the tax is more than the product?
You are comparing apples and oranges. The entire infrastructure to get the gas to the final user is the biggest cost for the summer if not fro the whole year depending on how much is used.
The tax is on the whole cost, not just the fuel.
We typically do not get that cost breakdown … not for hydro, not for gasoline at the pump. Perhaps we should.
And do not forget, part of that delivery charge goes to the City of PG sine we bought the infrastructure and are leasing it back to Fortis. Right now we are making a profit which will eventually benefit the City. Perhaps they should be reducing the lease and not getting a lump sum for their favourite “legacy” project.
The hand is quicker than the eye. You have to keep your eyes on the pea!! ;-)
Anyone remember what Christy said in the 2013 BC Throne Speech? “Premier Christy Clark on Tuesday staked her political future on her approach to liquefied natural gas, promising her government’s strategy could transform the province’s massive resource stores into a more-than-$100-billion fund, enough to erase the province’s debt by the end of the 2020s.”
Fast forward three years, and the only thing being erased is money from our savings accounts as a struggling LNG industry looks to us (through increased user fees) to help it survive! LOL… the LNG industry, from saviors to leeches, all in three years! Thanks Christy!
The LNG collapse isn’t her fault. Are you really this dense?
“Anyone remember what Christy said in the 2013 BC Throne Speech”
The quotation was obviously not from the speech. It was obviously something from a reporter who extracted that from her speech and introduced his/her own opinion.
From page 8 of the 2013 BC Throne Speech:
“In B.C., we are blessed with an abundance of natural gas, the cleanest non-renewable fuel on the planet. We have a surplus that can meet the real and pressing needs of other economies, especially those on our Pacific doorstep. In doing so, we can help protect our planet.”
“Seizing this opportunity requires that we add new value to this resource, converting it for transport to markets outside our continent for the first time. This can trigger a possible $1 trillion in cumulative GDP benefit to our province over the next 30 years. An estimated 39,000 new full time jobs, on average, will be created during a 9 year construction period. Once all facilities reach full production, there could be over 75,000 new annual full time jobs.”
For more of this “fantasy” visit the 2013 throne speech here:
ht tp://tinyurl.com/hgj8492
We have a lot of natural gas. If one wants to bring it to market, when is the best time to install the infrastructure required to do so?
When prices are low and drillers and pipeline builders and conversion plants as well as harbours are low due to a depression in the price, or when prices and all associated infrastructure construction costs are going up?
The again, we can wait for 20 years and try again.
If all investors were to do that, and Canada really has typically been quite good at waiting, then nothing would be happening and we could sit and see where our next paycheck is coming from.
It happens to be the way the economy works. We are not living on a small Pacific Island with a closed economy of coconuts from the trees and fish from the ocean around us.
They have already been spending the money
I think the City used the 2008 figures for natural gas when they did their planning for the Community Energy System, and it was these numbers that determined when the project would be paid for and they would start to make money,. Having the price of natural gas so low now, means that they will never dig out of the Community Energy System hole that they dug. (Pun intended)
Natural Gas exports to the USA have been declining since 2007, so in reality we should have a surplus of natural gas in BC. Not sure how Fortis can say that there is a shortage.
At some future date the USA might import more Canadian Natural Gas to feed into their LNG plants,. They have one up and running this year, and will have another on line by this time next year, and could be looking for cheap Canadian gas to sell on the world markets.
We have for all intents and purposes been taken to the cleaners on this LNG fiasco.
Another story from the great jgalt. You forgot gas is used for heating and the carbon tax scam tagging to the price.
Interesting how when gasoline and natural gas prices go up most everyone ignores the carbon tax and other taxes.
dow7501–Take a look. Alberta is raising the min wage. Sounds like someone else wants to move people out of poverty.
It is nice having a government that looks after the best interests of it’s people, they are setting a good example in Alberta.
Pathetic or what ? Whining over six and a half cent per litre carbon tax . The lowest around . How pitifully poor must someone be to even notice it . Sure am glad I don’t burn fossil methane . It’s not clean and its not safe . It full of heavy metals from Mercury to radium .
A lot of whining and sniveling or what would have amounted to a $12 increase in my bill for the coldest month in this past year.
The actual commodity price is but a minuscule part of your overall natural gas bill, and is in fact regulated by the BC Utilities Commission.
As for the TROLL….who freaking cares?
This rate increase in natural gas has nothing to do with supply and demand issues, rather it has everything to do with us subsidizing a struggling industry that is hemorrhaging billions of dollars every year.
The LNG industry is not BC’s savior, rather the opposite. With this natural gas rate increase, and through our wallets and purses, we are the LNG industry’s savior.
LNG comes from national gas.
We can pipe it to our buildings and factories.
Japan can’t.
It is one energy source.
Call it what you want.
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