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Ontario’s natural gas customers are getting a temporary reprieve to soaring natural gas bills.
Enbridge Gas Distribution announced late Thursday that the price of natural gas per cubic metre will fall to 18.57 cents, from the 20.89 cents per cubic metre announced on April 1.
Enbridge said the newly set rate could add as much as $12 to the average monthly bill of a family, or an additional $324 over the next 27 months, according to the company.
The rate includes a “cost adjustment” charge of 2.45 cents per cubic metre, instead of the 7.16 cents per cubic metre, that Enbridge said it needed to recoup its losses from this past winter.
The price reduction came after the Ontario Energy Board ruled in May that the amount being charged by Enbridge posed too much of an impact on average consumer wallets. The price that Ontario consumers pay for natural gas is adjusted by the board every three months.
Enbridge accrued a $655.5-million shortfall last winter due to unprecedented demand for natural gas. The company ran out of stored gas as well as reserve supplies and was forced to buy gas at a much higher rate than it had budgeted for.
Enbridge had expected to pay $88.58 million for natural gas during the month of January, filings from the utility to the Ontario Energy Board show. It budgeted another $77.45 million for February.
However, it ended up spending $291.53 million in January and $490.98 million in February. In a separate document, also filed to the OEB, Enbridge said that the cost to acquire natural gas for March was $322.1 million.
The company does not make money off of the price of natural gas, it makes its profits in the transportation of the fuel. As a result, all of the shortfall must be recouped from consumers.
Enbridge had initially wanted to recoup the amount over 12 months and was granted a temporary increase that raised natural gas bills by an average of 40 per cent. However, in May the Ontario Energy Board ruled that the increase needed to recoup the amount over one year posed too much of an impact to consumers and stretched the time frame for Enbridge to recoup its loss to 27 months. Consumers are also now responsible for paying a 1.74 per cent annual interest rate on the amount owing to Enbridge.
Vpilieci@ottawacitizen.com
Twitter: Vpilieci
查看原文...
Enbridge Gas Distribution announced late Thursday that the price of natural gas per cubic metre will fall to 18.57 cents, from the 20.89 cents per cubic metre announced on April 1.
Enbridge said the newly set rate could add as much as $12 to the average monthly bill of a family, or an additional $324 over the next 27 months, according to the company.
The rate includes a “cost adjustment” charge of 2.45 cents per cubic metre, instead of the 7.16 cents per cubic metre, that Enbridge said it needed to recoup its losses from this past winter.
The price reduction came after the Ontario Energy Board ruled in May that the amount being charged by Enbridge posed too much of an impact on average consumer wallets. The price that Ontario consumers pay for natural gas is adjusted by the board every three months.
Enbridge accrued a $655.5-million shortfall last winter due to unprecedented demand for natural gas. The company ran out of stored gas as well as reserve supplies and was forced to buy gas at a much higher rate than it had budgeted for.
Enbridge had expected to pay $88.58 million for natural gas during the month of January, filings from the utility to the Ontario Energy Board show. It budgeted another $77.45 million for February.
However, it ended up spending $291.53 million in January and $490.98 million in February. In a separate document, also filed to the OEB, Enbridge said that the cost to acquire natural gas for March was $322.1 million.
The company does not make money off of the price of natural gas, it makes its profits in the transportation of the fuel. As a result, all of the shortfall must be recouped from consumers.
Enbridge had initially wanted to recoup the amount over 12 months and was granted a temporary increase that raised natural gas bills by an average of 40 per cent. However, in May the Ontario Energy Board ruled that the increase needed to recoup the amount over one year posed too much of an impact to consumers and stretched the time frame for Enbridge to recoup its loss to 27 months. Consumers are also now responsible for paying a 1.74 per cent annual interest rate on the amount owing to Enbridge.
Vpilieci@ottawacitizen.com
Twitter: Vpilieci
查看原文...
