Alberta’s NDP is standing with condominium owners who are demanding action from the UCP government after some condo owners were left of the list for electricity rebates.
Only Albertans currently connected to the system who have consumed electricity within the past calendar year, up to a maximum of 250 megawatt hours per year, are eligible for the rebates.
Sub-metered units are not eligible. Only the main site that connects directly to the distribution system, and receives a bill from a regulated utility provider, is eligible.
The NDP says hundreds of thousands of Albertans own units in multi-residential buildings with a single meter, where electricity is billed to owners through fees such as condominium fees. These buildings were commonly constructed in the 1970s and 80s, largely in rural and southern Alberta.
“This is a question of fundamental fairness. Every single Albertan is feeling the pressure of high power bills and yet, the way that the UCP have designed this rebate program is going to exclude hundreds of thousands of people including many who need this help the most,” said NDP Leader Rachel Notley in a statement.
“The UCP needs to fix this and fix it now. We cannot create a situation where some Albertans get help and others do not just because they chose to buy a condo and not a house.”
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The Condo Owners Forum Society of Alberta wrote a letter to Associate Minister of Natural Gas and Electricity Dale Nally last week outlining their concerns and asked the government to set out a process for condominium boards to apply for the rebate based on occupied units and lift the cap on eligible residential properties.
“What the government has done in this rebate program is create two types of condominium owners. We would be failing the hundreds of thousands of Albertans that will fall through the cracks of this program if some sort of accommodation is not made for them,” said society board member Phil Rosenzweig.
Hadrian D’Souza, board member of the One Century Park Condo Corporation, said the issue has impacted families living in single-meter buildings in Ermineskin.
“We have 184 families that are being excluded from these rebates due to what seems to be an oversight. We are asking the government to review this situation and provide a process for application to make sure the rebates are not missed by our families,” D’Souza said.