Calgary city council orders review of local access fee on electricity bills
Global News
Calgary city council unanimously approved the review of local access fees, which would cover alternative fee structures, and potential options for an affordability program.
It’s a line item on Calgarians’ electricity bills that has grown significantly, and that city council wants to look at more deeply in an effort to find any relief for those struggling to pay them.
On Tuesday, city council unanimously approved a comprehensive review of the local access fee on electricity bills, including its history, alternatives and impacts to any potential changes to its formula on the city’s bottom line.
Calgary mayor Jyoti Gondek said changes must be made as Calgarians grapple with affordability concerns.
“We should have known long ago that we needed to be ready for something like this and instead we chose to go with the status quo. Well, I’m not very happy with that,” Gondek said.
“Status quo isn’t working, and we need to be looking at other options.”
The local access fee is charged to utilities in lieu of a property tax to operate electricity infrastructure on municipal lands.
In Calgary, that fee is directly linked to the regulated rate of electricity in Alberta, which has risen by 246 per cent since January 2021.
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