Utility Rate Increase

Your electricity bill is going up.

Penticton city council adopted a bylaw Monday to pass a rate increase from Fortis B.C. onto local utility consumers.

City Treasurer, Doug Leahy, says Fortis’s increase of 2.1 per cent was ordered by the B.C. Utilities Commission.

He says one of the reasons the BCUC approved the increase is to avoid a rate shock in the future.

“They will likely increase again in 2008 or 2009, this way they are phasing the increase in so consumers aren’t hit with a six or seven per cent increase all at once,” says Leahy.

He says the increase will start during the next billing period.

“Consumers will see the change starting the middle of May. The average account will go up from about $72 to about $74,” says Leahy.

He says the increase is to help pay for future capital work to the electrical grid.