Natural gas and electric rates news
Natural gas Quarterly Rate Service
We have received approval for a Primary Gas rate change effective November 1, 2019. In addition to the Primary Gas rate change, Centra received approval for changes to its transportation, distribution, supplemental gas rates for all customers and Basic Monthly charge changes for higher volume customers. All these rate changes will be effective November 1, 2019.
The combined annualized bill impact of the rates change for a typical residential customer, based on an annual consumption of 2,218 m3 is a decrease of approximately 18.7 per cent or $127 per year. This annual bill decrease for the Small General Service customers includes a temporary refund of the surplus balance in Furnace Replacement Program. For larger volume sales service customers, annualized bill impacts range from a decrease of 3.4 per cent to 22.8 per cent depending on the rate class and level of consumption.
These annual bill decreases are the result of a decrease in general revenues required as a result of lower costs to operate the natural gas utility, reduction to the forecast price that Centra pays for natural gas and also implemented for a 12-month period rate riders that refund amounts paid by customers in excess of the actual costs of gas since the 2015/16 Cost of Gas proceeding.
The Transportation Service customers in the High Volume Firm and Mainline classes will experience annual bill increases. This increase is primarily due to the effect of reversing the bill decreases that these customers received in 2017, per Order 79/17.
The Primary Gas Rate for all Quarterly Rate Service customers will increase to 9.10/m3 effective November 1, 2019. The price that we pay for this Primary Gas supply option is passed directly on to customers without any markup. As a result, we do not make any profit on the sale of Primary Gas.
Natural gas Fixed Rate Service
The Fixed Rate Service is offered to natural gas consumers on a periodic basis throughout the year. It provides residential and commercial customers the option to lock in their Primary Gas rate for a 1, 3, or 5-year term through Manitoba Hydro.
- Natural gas sales service – Billed Rate Schedule (PDF, 72 KB).
- Schedule of Sales and Transportation Services and Rates (PDF, 521 KB), including:
- Appendix A - Approved Rates;
- Appendix B - Company Labour Rates;
- Appendix C - Transportation Service Balancing Fees.
Electricity rates news
On June 1, 2019, the electricity rates changed to reflect an average revenue increase of 2.5% for most customer classes. This increase was approved by the Public Utilities Board of Manitoba (PUB).
As part of the PUB’s Order, electricity rates for the First Nations on-reserve residential class and residential diesel class customers were maintained at levels approved by the PUB effective August 2017. Rates for the general service small non-demand class have been adjusted to more accurately reflect the cost to serve these customers.
| Class | Average increase |
|---|---|
| Residential | 2.5% |
| Residential First Nations on-reserve | 0.0% |
| General service small non-demand | 1.3% |
| General service small demand | 2.5% |
| General service medium | 2.5% |
| General service large 750 V to 30 kV | 2.5% |
| General service large 30 to 100 kV | 2.5% |
| General service large >100 kV | 2.5% |
| Area & roadway lighting | 2.5% |
A residential customer without electric space heat, using an average of 1,000 kilowatt-hours per month, will see an increase of approximately $2.34 per month. A residential customer with electric space heat, using an average of 2,000 kilowatt-hours per month, will see an increase of approximately $4.47 per month.
The PUB’s Order approving the rate change may be accessed through the PUB’s website.