Natural gas prices remain below the threshold for triggering a provincial government rebate program in December.
Alberta’s natural gas rebate program was designed to offer price protection for Albertans from volatile natural gas prices. Since December’s highest monthly default natural gas rate will be $6.167 per gigajoule, the rebate will not be triggered.
If the monthly default natural gas rate from any of the regulated utility providers (ATCO Gas North and ATCO Gas South, as served by Direct Energy Regulated Services or Apex Utilities) exceed $6.50 per gigajoule, the government will provide rebates to all eligible consumers covering the difference. For example, if the highest regulated rate is $7.50, eligible consumers would get a rebate of $1 for every gigajoule used in that month.
More than 1.6 million Albertans are eligible for a rebate, including consumers connected to the natural gas distribution system and those not connected to the natural gas distribution system but using natural gas, propane, kerosene or heating oil for heating purposes.
In Alberta, the default regulated rates are set for the entire month and do not fluctuate. Rates are approved by the Alberta Utilities Commission and are not determined by the government.
The rebate will appear as an individual line item on the natural gas portion of the bill under “GOA Utility Commodity Rebate.”
If the monthly default rate posted on alberta.ca is above $6.50 per gigajoule, eligible consumers will automatically receive the rebate credited on the bill for that month’s usage.
If the monthly default rate posted on alberta.ca is at or below $6.50 per gigajoule, no rebate will be provided and no line item will appear on that month’s bill.