Anything better than Enmax/Easymax for Calgary?

[Wormius]

I had been thinking about this ever since we took a month long family vacation last summer and had used virtually no natural gas, zero electricity, water, etc. and our bill was still almost $200. This last month, nearly the same thing with gas and electricity usage.

I have found some other companies but are they any better for the delivery/admin/misc fees that no amount of conscious effort on reducing our household energy use can eliminate? Some that seemed cheaper were Just Energy and Sponsor. Or at least an option that lets you pay by credit card to get some points there.

[PsYcNeT]

I'm really not sure how any secondary re-seller can be cheaper than the direct provider, as a company like Just Energy is literally renting the lines from Enmax/Atco and re-selling the service with their own fees on top.

[calgaryblood]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

I'm really not sure how any secondary re-seller can be cheaper than the direct provider, as a company like Just Energy is literally renting the lines from Enmax/Atco and re-selling the service with their own fees on top.

Me neither but it definitely is. Easy max has saved me about $1500 since switching in about a year and a half.

[Coys1882]

When it comes to delivery/transmission - you don't have a choice. Enmax Power (not to be confused with Enmax Energy the retailer) provides that service and is paid the same fees regardless of your retailer and those fees are due regardless of your consumption.

[Coys1882]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

I'm really not sure how any secondary re-seller can be cheaper than the direct provider, as a company like Just Energy is literally renting the lines from Enmax/Atco and re-selling the service with their own fees on top.

Enmax Energy customers have to pay for the 'line rentals' just like the customers of any other retailer.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

I'm really not sure how any secondary re-seller can be cheaper than the direct provider, as a company like Just Energy is literally renting the lines from Enmax/Atco and re-selling the service with their own fees on top.

I thought there might be some "no frills" option, similar to how the cellular and internet re-sellers like Mobilicity,Teksavvy, etc. just piggy-back off of someone else's infrastructure.

I don't know how the energy and natural gas distribution side works though. I figured there would be some benefit, otherwise why would the resellers even exist?

[PsYcNeT]

Originally Posted by Wormius

I figured there would be some benefit, otherwise why would the resellers even exist?

Klein government de-regulation and privatization of public utilities.

[para transit fellow]

I find that the wire charges and admin fees take up 75% of the bills these days.

[Ace]

I've always wondered if having a compressed tank would actually be cheaper than accessing natural gas due to the fees. Like sure you'd have to have someone come fill it once and a while but. Probably not legal in the city.

Anyone ever looked into this.

[Northendzone]

Did you have a bill because you are on a budgeted arrangement?

If you were away and used nothing, then your bill should reflect that, or am i missing something?

[Ace]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

Did you have a bill because you are on a budgeted arrangement?

If you were away and used nothing, then your bill should reflect that, or am i missing something?

Yes, due to admin and access fees using next to nothing still cost $200

[calf]

There could be a couple things going on in your utility bill when you were on vacation.

1) The utility might not do a meter read every month, and estimate your bill based on prior months, and then true it up when you’re a meter read is done
2) You’re still using some gas/electricity to run your furnace, hot water tank, fridge, freezer etc while you’re away
3) The commodity charge is only a portion of the bill. The capital cost and costs to maintain the utility system is always charged to the utility customers, so the bill is high whether you’re using the commodity or not.

The retailer won’t make a huge difference overall, other than getting things like Easy Max dollars, loyalty credits, different admin/billing fees. The retailer really is the middleman between the customer and the utility owner. In Calgary, all the utility infrastructure is owned by Enmax. ATCO might send you the bill, but Enmax determines what you’ll have to pay get gas and electricity.

[BigNumbers]

Ha, suckers - this is why I leave the lights on and rock incandescent bulbs. Switch to LEDs, turn off the lights and save $3.23 a month! Great incentive to save power.

[puckedoff]

Yeah the transmission fees are at least two thirds of the bill, if not more. I went through my last twelve months of bills and decided there is little to be gained by conserving usage. Was a mistake to let the wife no that though - I don't think she's turned off a light since!

[ken0042]

I would also buy from a provider who put everything into a single line item. Electricity is 18¢ per kw/h, and gas is $7 per GJ. Nothing else.

You would think that while making up a carbon tax plan, they would have also included legislation like that. You know- something that would have given people a real incentive to cut back. (Yes- I know the carbon tax is simply a tax, and not really aimed at saving emissions.)

[Fuzz]

The only reason it looks like your actual usage bill is so low is because energy and gas is near free right now. Typically usage would make up well over half the charge. In short, don't complain, it's gonna get a lot worse when carbon taxes hit.

[Fuzz]

Ken, can't quote you for some reason...
anyway, I think pricing that way would have the light users subsidizing the heavy users, wouldn't it?

[Wormius]

Just for reference - here is my gas and electricity numbers from last month.

Not sure how it compares to most folks, but for electricity actual usage was $26 and the total was $65.

For gas, we used $5.81, and the total was $40.86.

The water and sewer is not much better with water charge at $14.32 and total charge of $31.23 and sewer at $10.44 and total charge of $49.60.

So for this month's $195 utility bill, $142 of that was extra charges.

I guess it's just frustrating to see those and know that, no matter what best case scenario is a monthly bill consisting mainly of extra charges even if we use no water, electricity, or gas and have no garbage pickup. I understand there are things going on in the background that necessitate some fees, but here they seem too high. I wonder what the other provinces have to pay. I am pretty sure my parents in BC have noted the fees are not this high.

It does seem like the meter reading dates aren't quite aligned, so that could explain some discrepancies from the month we were away. Furnace was off though, so with the exception of the hot water tank and pilot lights for furnace nothing was using gas. The only electricity would have been fridge and a small deep freeze.

I did buy LED and CFL bulbs, but primarily because they don't burn out as frequently as halogens and incandescents.

[V]

Originally Posted by ken0042

I would also buy from a provider who put everything into a single line item. Electricity is 18¢ per kw/h, and gas is $7 per GJ. Nothing else.

That's how water works. Guess what happens when consumption goes down? Rates go up.

Does it make you feel better when all of the charges are hidden?

[rd_aaron]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Just for reference - here is my gas and electricity numbers from last month.

Not sure how it compares to most folks, but for electricity actual usage was $26 and the total was $65.

For gas, we used $5.81, and the total was $40.86.

The water and sewer is not much better with water charge at $14.32 and total charge of $31.23 and sewer at $10.44 and total charge of $49.60.

So for this month's $195 utility bill, $142 of that was extra charges.

I guess it's just frustrating to see those and know that, no matter what best case scenario is a monthly bill consisting mainly of extra charges even if we use no water, electricity, or gas and have no garbage pickup. I understand there are things going on in the background that necessitate some fees, but here they seem too high. I wonder what the other provinces have to pay. I am pretty sure my parents in BC have noted the fees are not this high.

It does seem like the meter reading dates aren't quite aligned, so that could explain some discrepancies from the month we were away. Furnace was off though, so with the exception of the hot water tank and pilot lights for furnace nothing was using gas. The only electricity would have been fridge and a small deep freeze.

I did buy LED and CFL bulbs, but primarily because they don't burn out as frequently as halogens and incandescents.

So just throwing some numbers out there to see what it would look like in another province (Saskatchewan in this case).

The EasyMax floating rate was 5 cents/kWh for July. If you used $26 worth of electricity, that means you used about 520kWh for the month. The remaining $39 was fees, for a total of $65. If you're on the fixed rate, it's between 5.59 cents and 6.79 cents, depending on the term you sign up for.

Take that 520kWh to Saskatchewan, with it's rate of 13.27 cents/kWh for July, and you have $69 of usage, which is your total bill.

So your bill is pretty close to the same in either province, HOWEVER, keep in mind that in Alberta, the government takes no risk on the power industry since it's been privatized. No taxes are allocated to build new capital projects. In Saskatchewan (for example) the risk is borne by the tax payer since SaskPower is a Crown corporation.

http://www.saskpower.com/wp-content/...s_July2016.pdf

https://www.enmax.com/ForYourHomeSit...ity-After.aspx