Bill shock for some Enmax customers after utility undercharges for electricity
Enmax hadn't fully billed regulated rate option customers from May 1 to Aug. 12, 2024
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Certain Enmax customers saw a recent bump in their electricity bills to make up for the city-owned utility’s undercharging error.
Early in August 2024, Enmax noticed it hadn’t fully billed regulated rate option (RRO) customers for their electricity from May 1 to Aug. 12 of last year.
In the last few weeks, notices were sent out to those customers telling them they’d be paying an additional two to four cents per kilowatt-hour to compensate for that undercharging, caused by an internal input error.
“That would be an average cost per household of about $30, as a one-time charge,” said Enmax spokesman Matt John.
That amount should be seen in the December invoice on its credit or CR line, he said, adding it won’t come with any additional interest or fees.
What Enmax had overlooked was including two to four cent per kWh assessed to customers between April 2023 and December 2024, to make up for revenue deferred by a provincially imposed temporary price cap of 13.5 cents per kWh from January to March 2023 to offset high electricity costs that winter.
“It was when all (electricity) providers were required to recover the difference for the provincial government,” said John.
Enmax was forced to recoup about $3 million in the recent billing adjustment from its more than 100,000 customers on the RRO, a floating monthly charge. This has since been replaced by a fixed rate dubbed the Rate of Last Resort, adopted in a bid to persuade customers to shift away from the default rate.
The public notification of the billing adjustment was delayed due to both the need for Enmax to acquire Alberta Utilities Commission approval for the change and the recent strike by Canada Post workers that held up mail, said John.
He said he’s not aware of any public complaints about the upward bill adjustment but noted Enmax is offering flexible payment options and is waiving late fees for the charge.
“These programs are available to anyone and not just for this adjustment, should they have issues of repayment,” said John.
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