Surging fees, high renewal rates: Calgarians sound off on utility bills

Recent utility bill spikes have some Calgarians feeling the pinch, and with the province set to release its budget Thursday — they're hoping for relief.

CBC News heard from dozens of Calgary households when we asked people to send us their utility bills.

Some didn't realize the importance of signing a fixed-rate contract and are seeing the price per unit of energy soar; others are locked-in but still see rising costs because of extra fees and increased consumption during cold weather. Still others report they signed fixed contracts years ago and now it's the new renewal rates that are bitting the budget.

In the throne speech this week, the United Conservatives said Thursday's budget will include a rebate, at least for natural gas bills. The details have yet to be released.

Here's what four families told us about how they're coping and what they'd like to see in the budget.

The Sami family

Adnan Sami's children used to have their own playroom set up in the basement of the family's Chaparral home. Now it sits unused.

"Everybody's in the bonus room on one level so that we are at least not using basement electricity."

Sami is still on the floating rate. He said he heard the warnings last fall but didn't realize the impact would be so extreme. Last month, his Enmax bill doubled, from $300 in December to $600 in January.

The rates are up; his usage is, too. Then there's the fees. 

"I only used my electricity for 90 bucks," said the oil and gas information technology worker.

"Then a $127 charge which is basically the distribution fees, then the riders and there is a huge amount of taxes and then there is another $70 charge on my bill for the federal carbon tax as well. So these are the things which bothers me a lot."

Sami is shopping around for a new provider — even talking with an Energy Direct salesman at the Wal-Mart kiosk who was offering gift cards to sign a contract, but the rates weren't any better than the larger companies.

He wonders if he'll have to downsize. 

"We're living in a three bedroom home with a basement," he said. "I might have to sell this house and then buy a cheaper, smaller house that we can manage with the utility bills and everything. That's a last resort."

As for the upcoming budget, Sami said he's hoping the relief will be targeted ar the middle class, not just low income earners, because people in his bracket are also having a hard time making ends meet.

The Biglin family

Angie and John Biglin used to be a two car household. This winter, as the cost of living rose — including big increases to their utility bill — the Biglins parked Angie's car indefinitely. 

"I put my car in the garage, took my insurance off of it except for home coverage," she said. "I'm very housebound."

Angie is a pensioner who worked for 40 years in the finance sector. Her husband is now the only wage-earner, working part-time as a baker. For the past three years, the Biglins were in a locked-in Enmax plan, but in January their rate came up to be renegotiated and the best rate they could lock in for was $0.0659/ kWh. 

"Which was a big jump for us and is now locked until 2025," she said. 

It means, in addition to parking the car, they're no longer using the basement of their Douglasdale home.

"We have a beautiful electric fireplace in one of our front rooms. It's unplugged. We don't use it anymore. All the lamps and stuff all around the house, if we're not using that room, everything stays unplugged now," she said.

"If it's a really super cold day, then that's the day that I'm doing baking and cooking and using the oven to try to help warm the house up, as opposed to turning the furnace up even more. We do dishes only once a day in the sink as opposed to using our dishwasher."

On top of the increase to rates, Angie noticed an increase in fees.

How many times do you have to hit us?"​​​​- Angie Biglin

"The delivery charges, distribution, transmission, balancing pool allocation, all of those fees, they seem to be going up not just like two or three dollars, but every year it seems to be like an extra 10 bucks, an extra $15," she said.

"Why are you also passing on to the consumer all these other fees on top of it, you've already hit us once? How many times do you have to hit us?"

As for the promised natural gas rebates, Angie is weary: "I'm just hoping it's going to be something better than what those rebates historically were, because they really weren't that helpful."

The Qasimi Family

Jay Qasimi describes his family's utility bills as "out of control."

"So are groceries and everything else. I'm worried that if the trends keep going the way it is, I might not be able to provide that. That's a terrifying prospect for me as a young father, as a Canadian, as an average middle-class person."

For his family of three, the Enmax bill went from $278 in December to $372 in January. That's with a fixed rate contract, over the coldest winter months.

He was stunned when February's bill came in at $514.

"That's exponentially higher, like ... all of sudden you go now to over $500, it's hard to comprehend that," he said.

With a baby on the way, Qasimi, who is a carpenter for an oil and gas company, says his wife isn't working at the moment either, and he's nervous about how they're going to make ends meet. 

"Basically, we have to cut back on some other essentials like grocery shopping. I really kind of cringe in the aisles and question what to pick — beef is almost impossible to touch," he said. "I've never been in that position before because I do bring a six-figure salary."

Looking to the budget, Qasimi is looking for something to alleviate these pains, but he'd prefer lower taxes to a utility rebate.

"There should be less taxes so that we have more money in our pocket and we're not running to social services and we're not as stressed out and depressed...and so we can spend so the economy will turn around."

The Halverson family

Deb Halverson works in sales and her husband is an electrician. They have high efficiency appliances and spend most of their day outside of their northwest Calgary home. 

"I really don't know what else we could possibly do to cut costs because, with all the fees they're charging, it's just unreal. Even if your consumption isn't that high per month, it's all those fees that just kill you."

Even though they have locked in their rates with Atco Energy the bill jumped to $526, from $262 for the same month a year before. It's the highest the bill has been since they moved into their home in 2006. Her distribution fee went from $27.42 in January 2021 to $66.85 this year.

"That just totally shocked me. I knew that prices were going to be going up, but not that much."

Rather than a rebate, she'd like the provincial budget to bring back a cap on rates, and also cap fees. 

"I feel sorry for are the seniors on a fixed income. I don't know how they're going to survive."

Government 'recognizes pressures'

After CBC Calgary's last story on utility prices, provincial Associate Minister of Natural Gas and Electricity Dale Nally sent a statement on the increase. He says the province recognizes the pressures that high electricity and natural gas prices can place on Albertans.

"It is important to note that electricity rates are based on market conditions – namely supply and demand – which are outside of government's control," he said.

Nally said that on addition to seeing record-breaking demand this winter, a large amount of the historically low-priced coal power has been retired from the system.

"This shift in our electricity supply mix is also contributing to higher-than-average prices," he said. "This is a signal to investors that new generation is needed and the market is responding with approximately 40 generation projects underway offering 4,000 MW of new supply to the grid in the coming months and years."