City to bump up monthly cost of electrical and garbage utilities

By Timothy Schafer

It's going to cost a little more to plug in and throw out in Grand Forks this year.

Electricity and garbage collection rates will be going up this year after city council approved third reading on an increase to the two services in the Fees and Charges Bylaw, with final adoption of the new bylaw rates to put them into law expected to come April 10.

The basic minimum residential service charge per month will now be $19.14 — up from $18.58 — with an electrical rate based on consumption of $.12029 per kilowatt hour (up from $0.11679 KWh). Commercial rates rise to $20.71 from $20.11 with a consumption rate of $0.12873 per KWh (up from $0.12498 per KWh).

Residential garbage collection rises from $10 per month to $11.50 per month for each residential dwelling in the city. Garbage collection and its resultant fees are mandatory for every residence within city limits.
The total for the two increases will add up to over $5 per month to the average bill, said Coun. Beverley Tripp.

"So that's about $60 per year; I don't think that is unreasonable," she said. "I did want to point that out because people will be noticing an increase."

Also on the increase will be an optional electrical service offered to those people who prefer to not have a digital radio read meter at their service entrance. A digital non-radio read meter will be installed as an alternate to the standard digital radio read meter instead.

The customer will now be required to pay a one-time "setup" charge of $167.84, up from $162.95. For each billing cycle thereafter the customer will have to pay a manual read charge of $15.43 (up from $14.98) along with the regular residential rates.

The higher setup fee for people who request a manual meter reading was excessive, said Tripp in the March 27 city council meeting. She wanted to see the setup charge waived by the city for people with a radio frequency sensitivity.

"I just feel that setup charge is prohibitive," she said.

City staff was not sure about the manual charge and when it would apply, so no further motion was voted on in lieu of more information still to come.

The first three readings on the garbage rates bylaw passed with no discussion, although council did consider changing the name of the bylaw from garbage to solid waste, but it was not passed.

The city also moved campground fees into the Fees and Charges Bylaw with the electrical and garbage collection fees.

Tripp noted that the city will be charging campers for one night of camping as a penalty for cancellation 48 hours prior to arrival, with a penalty of a two-night rate being charged for cancellation within 48 hours.

"To me this feels like it is a little bit excessive," she said.

She asked for no fee charged for cancellation prior to 48 hours and one night charged for cancellation under 48 hours.

"The charge had been in place for the last year and worked really well with the visitor information centre," came a city staff reply.

The amount of staff time it takes to re-credit back credit card payments takes half and hour to an hour, depending on how quickly the city can get ahold of people.

"When we implemented this fee last year people were a lot more diligent in booking," noted a city staff response.

"We've done our research and it worked last year and it is in the policy already, we are just moving it from the policy into the fees and charges bylaw."

The matter did not move any further and third reading on the Fees and Charges Bylaw passed.