Fortis recently announced that they would be starting the transition from two-tier rates to a flat rate on July 1, 2019. This is contrary to their proposal in their rate application that specified that they would start phasing out the two-tier rates on January 1, 2019. I have sent the following complaint to the BCUC (Email: complaints@bcuc.com) and I encourage you to send a similar complaint if you feel that you are being negatively affected by Fortis’ actions.
Complaint Sent to BCUC
FortisBC recently announced that they had delayed the start of the transition from two-tier rates to a flat rate until July 1, 2019. In its 2017 Rate Application, FortisBC proposed to start transitioning from two-tier rates to a flat rate on January 1, 2019. Under this proposal, Fortis was supposed to reduce the Tier 2 rate on January 1, 2019 from 15.617 cents/kWh to 14.915 cents/kWh (Table 6-10: FBC Residential Rate Proposal; p 73, 2017 Cost of Service Analysis and Rate Design Application). FortisBC maintained that its proposal represented a careful balancing of interests and it was this proposal that was the focus of the BCUC rate proceedings and that the BCUC approved in its final decision.
Like many customers that heat with electricity, much of our Tier 2 consumption occurs in the months of January to March. By delaying the introduction of the Tier 2 reduction, Fortis wiped out most of the “benefits” that they claimed, during the rate proceedings, customers such as us would receive in 2019 as part of the phase-out. When we asked Fortis whether we would be credited for the amount that we paid from January 1st to June 30th in excess of the BCUC approved rate, we were told in an email, dated June 28th, that: “There will not be a credit towards your account nor any interest applied as the rate structure is in effect as of JULY 1, 2019”.
We would like to formally register our complaint with the BCUC about FortisBC charging us electricity rates from January 1, 2019 through June 30, 2019 that were above the rates approved by the BCUC in the 2017 FortisBC Rate Application decision. We request that the BCUC order FortisBC to compensate affected customers accordingly so that their electricity bills for 2019 are those that would have occurred under the rates approved by the BCUC.
Nick Marty