BC Hydro activates "winter payment plan"
VANCOUVER -
As colder temperatures set in across the province again this weekend, BC Hydro says it is activating its winter payment plan to give customers the opportunity to spread out their electricity bills.
"Our meteorologists are predicting colder-than-average temperatures will continue over the next of couple of months and we want to provide customers with help to manage their payments," said Chris O'Riley, BC Hydro's president.
All BC Hydro customers will be able to spread payments from the billing period spanning Dec. 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018 over a six-month period.
Cold weather in the second half of December 2017 led to surging electricity demand that was higher than the previous 10-year average, according to BC Hydro.
People who heat their homes with electricity — about 40 per cent of British Columbians — have the highest overall bills in the province, $197 more in December than in July.
This is the second year the Crown corporation has activated a cold-weather payment plan.
BC Hydro has also increased funding for its low-income conservation programs by $2.2 million for a total of $10 million over the next three years.
The low-income program provides energy-saving kits that include things like free energy assessments, insulation upgrades and weather stripping.
Related News
Saskatchewan to credit solar panel owners, but not as much as old program did
REGINA - Saskatchewan has unveiled a new program that credits electricity customers for generating their own solar power, but it won’t pay as much as an older program did or reimburse them with rebates for their costs to buy and install equipment.
The new net metering program takes effect Nov. 1, and customers will be able to use solar to offset their own power use at the retail rate.
But they will only get 7.5 cents per kilowatt hour credit on their bills for excess energy they put back into the grid, rather than the 14 cents in the previous program.
Dustin Duncan,…
