Ready or not, BC Hydro residential customers will see their electricity bills in a whole new light next month. The B.C. Utilities Commission has granted Hydro's application to bill residential customers on the basis of a new, two-tiered rate system that will reward people who conserve electricity, and impose higher costs on those who don't. Hydro customers using more than 1,350 kilowatt hours in a two-month billing period will be charged the higher rate for the portion of their power over this amount.
Based on historic average consumption, consumers living in single-family homes, duplexes and condos will pay at least a portion of their power at the higher rate, while apartment owners will stay comfortably within the lower rate due to substantially lower average consumption. The new system will be phased in over six months, beginning with one rate bump on Oct. 1, and another on April 1, 2009. The Utilities Commission suggests Hydro prices Tier 1 power at about 6.15 cents per kilowatt hour. Tier 2 power will be 7.21 cents per kwh in October, jumping to 8.27 cents per kwh next April. For an average BC Hydro customer living in a single-family home, duplex, or condo, the difference between the cost of Tier 1 and Tier 2 power will work out to about $5 more per month starting in October, rising to $10 a month starting in April 2009. The intent of the change is that customers will seek to avoid the higher rates by changing their behaviour to cut back power use.
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