Utility users in New Westminster will be getting a B.C. Electrical Affordability credit – with the average residential customer expected to receive about $80.
At a March 18 workshop, city council unanimously supported a recommendation authorizing the mayor and corporate officer to sign and execute the shared cost arrangement that compensates the City of New Westminster to provide the BC Electricity Affordability Credit to all residential and commercial customers. The amount of the credit will be based on the terms and conditions provided by the province.
In February, the province announced it would be offering an affordability credit to help British Columbians with their electricity costs.
A staff report said the City of New Westminster will receive approximately $3.1 million to implement the BC Electricity Affordability Credit for residential and commercial customers, along with an additional $23,000 to cover administrative costs related to the program.
Indeep Johal, the city’s manager of financial services, said customers who had an active electric utility account as of Dec. 31, 2023 will receive the credit.
According to a staff report, funds received by the city will be used to provide a one-time credit on or before April 30, 2024 to each eligible customer. The report stated this credit will equate to approximately $80 in savings for the average residential customer (a minimum of $24) and approximately $400 for the average small business customer.
Coun. Daniel Fontaine said residential customers will get a minimum credit of $24.
“But if they have higher usage, and they use more, and they pay more, they will actually get more than $24,” he said.
Fontaine voiced concern that the electricity affordability credit is not only being given to residential customers, but it’s also going to commercial customers. He questioned if the City of New Westminster has any flexibility with the $3.1 million from the province, by providing additional credits to residential customers instead of commercial customers.
Johal said that can’t be done as it would not be in accordance with the shared cost agreement with the province.
Fontaine supported the staff recommendation as a means of dispersing the credit, but said he’d prefer if the money was targeted at residential customers.
Singling out Kruger Inc., Fontaine said the company “does a great job” and is a “great employer” in the city, but is making “millions upon millions of dollars” of profit and does not need an additional subsidy.
“If we want to provide some kind of a relief to the residents, financial relief, we're going to have to vote to also provide a subsidy to major corporations like Kruger,” he said. “So I will have to support it with that caveat that … I don't think that this particular program was designed well to make sure that the affordability was given actually to people who need it the most and not to major corporations.”
