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Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley. (rdnewsNOW file photo)
Bill 18

NDP presents plan to fast-track utility rebates to Albertans

Apr 26, 2022 | 11:28 AM

Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley presented a plan on Monday that she says will help to get the UCP’s utility rebates into Albertans’ pockets faster.

“Utility bills are creating real hardships for Alberta families and businesses right now and they are stacking on top of so many other rising monthly costs thanks to the UCP,” Notley said. “We have a plan that will get Albertans real help, real quick.”

The Opposition says it’s been nine weeks since the UCP promised Albertans an electricity rebate, and 12 weeks since they promised a natural gas rebate. Last week, add party officials, Associate Minister Dale Nally said it could be two more months before the electricity rebate goes out, and he had no clear answer on when the natural gas relief would come.

The NDP presented amendments to the UCP’s Bill 18, the Utility Commodity Rebate Act, on Monday. According to party officials, these amendments aim to:

  • Require the government to get this year’s rebates into Albertans’ pockets no later than May 31.
  • Require the government to get rebates to Albertans within 30 days of being authorized in any future use of the Act.
  • Ban utility shut-offs this year and whenever a rebate program is activated by the Act

“It says so much about the UCP that while they’re enjoying billions of dollars in resource revenue, they can’t figure out how to give an Alberta family a $50 rebate and they refuse to protect them from losing their heat and power in the meantime,” Notley said. “That’s not good enough.”

The NDP will also call for any use of the rebate act to also trigger an audit and review of price spikes, following a University of Calgary study last week which the NDP says concluded that markups are the main driver of rising utility bills.

“If the premier had spent a fraction of the time on this file as he spends on trying to save his job this would have been done months ago,” Notley said.

“So when you open that next heart-stopping utility bill, that’s the price of UCP infighting and incompetence. I commit to Albertans that an NDP government led by me will always be focused on what matters to you. These amendments are part of our down payment on that promise,” stated Notley.