The Alberta government passed Bill 21 in December 2019, which amended the legislation to cap regulated rate option rates at 6.8 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh). The regulated rate option (RRO) rate cap is no longer in effect as of November 30, 2019.

For RRO providers regulated by the AUC, when a rate exceeded the cap, the government paid the provider the difference between the actual price and the cap for each kWh of electricity consumed by their price cap eligible customers. For RRO providers not regulated by the AUC, REAs and the City of Medicine Hat, when rates exceeded the cap, the government paid the provider the difference between the lower actual price or the reference rate, and the cap for each kWh of electricity consumed by their price cap eligible customers. The price cap only applied to the energy portion of a bill. For more information visit the Alberta government’s website.

Reference rates

The government compensated rural electrification associations, other RRO providers not regulated by the AUC and the City of Medicine Hat for amounts not collected from customers due to the rate cap that was in effect from June 1, 2017 to November 30, 2019. The tables with reference rates are available below.

Rural electrification associations and other regulated rate option providers not regulated by the AUC

Reference rate is the average of the AUC regulated residential regulated rate option rates, plus 10 per cent.

Medicine Hat

Reference rate is the average of the AUC regulated residential RRO rates.