Many natural gas bills to drop across B.C. this winter

CBC News Posted: Sep 19, 2013 1:02 PM PT
Many B.C. homeowners’ natural gas bills will be significantly reduced this winter as the price of natural gas plummets amidst a North American market glut. FortisBC, which provides about 900,000 people with natural gas throughout the province, says they have received approval from the B.C. Utilities Commission to decrease prices for most of their customers starting October 1. The company says the savings will amount to approximately $60, or about $5 a month, over the course of the year for homeowners in the Lower Mainland, the Interior and northern B.C. Customers on Vancouver Island, the Sunshine Coast and Powell River will not benefit from the price reductions, however, because they are in a fixed-price agreement with FortisBC. A mild summer in eastern Canada significantly reduced demand for natural gas, which is commonly used to cool homes, and advancements in the extraction process have both contributed to the decrease in price, says the company.
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Lower Mainland, Fraser Valley, Interior, North and the Kootenays

Residential customers will see a decrease to the commodity rate of $0.641 per gigajoule (GJ). This results in a decrease of approximately $61 per year for an average residential customer in the Lower Mainland using approximately 95 GJ.
Customer Choice program participants will not be affected by changes to the commodity rate