Enbridge wants to increase heating (gas) by 40%~ cold winter~ give me a break!

[GatineauGirl]

40%? Holy Hannah, that's expensive!

Here's my solution: Move to Quebec. We have cheaper electric here (but we won't mention taxes lol). If we get enough English-friendly people moving to Quebec (but do it in the next week or two - before April 7 2014), we can all vote for an inclusive Quebec. Sounds good to me! Just joking, of course....didn't mean to jump your thread. I have read so many horror stories about electricity in Ontario - pretty scary billing issues. Stephen King could write a book about this.

[Shwa Girl]

They want it by April 1 ..nice April Fool's joke .

O.k.
I see now.
It's an April Fool's joke.
Whew!

[lindseyc]

I saw that article this morning and was distressed about the possible jump.

Off topic slightly, but Shwa Girl, did your water bill and hydro jump a lot this month as well? I am also located in Oshawa and both of those bills jumped up this month. My neighbour was reporting that her water went up by $100 - she is a 4 person household (with visiting grandkids at times) and I am only a single household but mine went up by $20 and I am very big on water conservation. My hydro jumped $20 as well, which is nuts.

[Shwa Girl]

I saw that article this morning and was distressed about the possible jump.

Off topic slightly, but Shwa Girl, did your water bill and hydro jump a lot this month as well? I am also located in Oshawa and both of those bills jumped up this month. My neighbour was reporting that her water went up by $100 - she is a 4 person household (with visiting grandkids at times) and I am only a single household but mine went up by $20 and I am very big on water conservation. My hydro jumped $20 as well, which is nuts.

Hydro bills did some flip flops over the past few bills. Up and down and unexplainable. Until the news story came out about how Hydro employees messed up on bills and there was an investigation.

Water is o.k. I think.

[momof5boys]

wow, here in BC gas prices have been steadily declining...unless a person signed up with one of those door to door marketers. My friend got suckered in and has been paying double what we pay for five years !

[cdngal75]

[QUOTE=Shwa Girl;5858380]Enbridge, formerly Consumer's Gas, wants to increase the amount charged to natural gas customers by 40%.
40%!?!
Are they crazy?

You're gonna tell me that their experts did not review the weather predictions and know that this winter would be more demanding for natural gas?

So angry. Maybe this is a rant but it's gonna affect our pocket books.
Shame Enbridge.
Shame.[/QUOTE

This is a hard one for me. About 12 years ago, when natural gas prices were skyrocketing, I signed on with a gas distributor. This helped enormously. I didn't bother to watch natural gas prices then because I assumed I was locked into a low rate. Fast forward to 3 years ago. My MIL's boyfriend is telling me that natural gas is so cheap. I questioned him further and realized that my locked in price was almost 20 cents higher than what Enbridge customers were paying without being locked in. It was time for me to renew my contract and I decided not to. My gas bill dropped by half. Now with this pending increase, I am totally unsure if locking in would be beneficial. Most terms are 3-5 years. I think I will ride it out and hopefully it drops again as it did years ago.

40% is asking way too much from their customers.

[cdngal75]

40%? Holy Hannah, that's expensive!

Here's my solution: Move to Quebec. We have cheaper electric here (but we won't mention taxes lol). If we get enough English-friendly people moving to Quebec (but do it in the next week or two - before April 7 2014), we can all vote for an inclusive Quebec. Sounds good to me! Just joking, of course....didn't mean to jump your thread. I have read so many horror stories about electricity in Ontario - pretty scary billing issues. Stephen King could write a book about this.

I was going to say I would move to Quebec except I am a Christian, and don't want to end up in prison for it.

[cdngal75]

Hydro bills did some flip flops over the past few bills. Up and down and unexplainable. Until the news story came out about how Hydro employees messed up on bills and there was an investigation.

Water is o.k. I think.

TOU seemed to really mess with peoples hydro bills. I was signed on for a locked in price for electricity so I did not have to be put on TOU. Should I ever decide to not sign on with a retailer however, I will convert to TOU and will never be able to go back. Thankfully I signed on with a cheap rate.

[cdngal75]

I saw that article this morning and was distressed about the possible jump.

Off topic slightly, but Shwa Girl, did your water bill and hydro jump a lot this month as well? I am also located in Oshawa and both of those bills jumped up this month. My neighbour was reporting that her water went up by $100 - she is a 4 person household (with visiting grandkids at times) and I am only a single household but mine went up by $20 and I am very big on water conservation. My hydro jumped $20 as well, which is nuts.

My water bill jumped a lot this month. I am billed every other month. I was starting to get stressed out about how much it was rising. I made a bathing/showering schedule for my kids and was very observant about water usage. I almost cried when I opened my bill and it was 10$ more. I noticed in small print that water rates increased this month. I would hate to have seen my bill had I not been "saving" on water. When we moved here 14 and a half years ago, our water bill was $45 every other month. Now it is $130 every other month. Depressing.

[Ciel]

http://www.ontarioenergyboard.ca/oeb...20Applications

I see Union Gas is going to go up. Dad got angry at Mom when the monthly billing plan amount went up over $20. However, he should have contacted UG about it. Also the energy supplier for gas has been calling-Dad won't take calls and brother won't figure out if Dad should tell them no. Contract was auto renewed last year. When Ellen Roseman wrote last year about how UG rates were cheaper than through a supplier, I winced.

The thing I wish to understand is the fixed cost Delivery charge that most utilities seem to have on their bills-just how much of that is payroll-bound and how much is for pipe/conduit maintenance/24h emergency service?

[ahatt]

Ridiculous! I seriously hope Ontario Energy Board does not approve this increase.

[blueeyetea]

@blueeyedtea
Large corporations hire and pay handsomely, experts and strategists to predict their next year's needs.
If the Weather Network and the Farmer's Almanac predicted in the summer of 2013, why was Enbridge, a large national company, unable to use their internal and external expertise to do likewise?

It's a lot more complicated than you seem to think, even if we believe predictions can be accurate. Even if they were able to buy all the gas that was required for the winter, it doesn't mean they have the storage capacity required.
From the Ontario Energy Board:

What events can cause significant changes or adjustments to the gas supply rate?Supply disruptions caused by unforeseen events, the price of oil on the world market, and severe or abnormal weather can have an effect on the market price of natural gas. Extreme weather is difficult to predict, and it can have an impact on the price of natural gas.

When you think about it, it's not that different than stocking up on groceries. You base your grocery list and meal plan on predictions about what you plan to eat, what you'll need, what you have on hand, and what your schedule will be like. Would you call it poor planning on your part because you didn't predict some unforseen events that changed plans at the last minute?

[blueeyetea]

If the demand was lower & the winter was warmer , I don't think they would have reduced the prices by 40 %..but they are quick to do it the other way round.

If the demand goes up , lets increase the prices & dinge the customer.

But if the demand goes down , lets keep the prices same & keep the difference for ourselves..fat bonuses & pay checks for the high priced executives.

I looked up the Ontario Energy Board, since this is where the OP resides. According to them, there is no markup on the price of gas.
What is the forecast based on?
Natural gas utilities use a 21-day average of the 12-month price from the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) to develop a 12-month forecast. The forecast price is reviewed every three months and adjusted accordingly. If the previous forecast price was too high, the difference is returned to customers as part of the next adjustment. If the previous forecast was too low, the difference is collected from customers in the next adjustment.

If you look at prior rate adjustments, it clearly shows that prices have gone up and down over the years.

They are paid the big bucks just to plan strategies & mitigate risks like this , there has to be a contingency in place for this stuff, otherwise they are not doing their job properly. Forecasting & Budgeting & Analysis is a major part of their job , which they are clearly not doing properly.

A company like this wouldn't survive if they didn't have any contingency plans in place. Predictions, even in the hands of experts, are calculated guesses based on what they know for sure. It's what they don't know that will cause their predictions to get off track.

[Shwa Girl]

Our gas bill for the furnace has gone down this month.
We had to buy a new furnace April 2013 and the gas usage is lower.
Yahoo!

[Venuila]

NRG is going up too?!?! We are already getting screwed in comparison to the other companies.

Union Gas Limited	13.3052 ¢/m3
Enbridge Gas Distribution Inc.	11.7412 ¢/m3
Natural Resource Gas Limited	18.5376 ¢/m3

What are the April 1st changes that Ontario’s natural gas utilities have applied for?

Gas Utility	Increase Applied For
Union Gas (south)	$200 annually for average consumer using 2,200 m3 / year
Enbridge	$399 annually for average consumer using 3,064 m3 / year
NRG	$408 annually for average consumer using 2,009 m3 / year

Just flippin ridiculous.