June 20, 2023
Sent via email Letter L-34-23
Verlon Otto
Director, Regulatory Affairs
Pacific Northern Gas Ltd.
Suite 750 – 888 Dunsmuir Street
Vancouver, BC V6C 3K4
Re: Pacific Northern Gas Ltd. and Pacific Northern Gas (N.E.) Ltd. – Second Quarter 2023 Report on
Gas Supply Costs – Bill Messaging
On June 6, 2023, Pacific Northern Gas Ltd. and Pacific Northern Gas (N.E) Ltd. (collectively, PNG) filed with the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) its Second Quarter 2023 Report on Gas Supply Costs and the Gas Cost Variance Account (GCVA) balances, which contained commodity rate change recommendations for each of its four service areas, identified as the PNG-West, Granisle Propane and the PNG(NE)’s Fort St. John/Dawson Creek and Tumbler Ridge service areas.
By BCUC Order G-149-23 and Letter L-31-23 dated June 15, 2023, the BCUC accepted PNG’s recommended commodity rate changes.
In its Second Quarter 2023 Report, PNG also requested BCUC acceptance to truncate the messaging of rate changes on customer bills and to direct customers to PNG’s website for further details. PNG states that it has encountered “challenges in providing messaging that PNG considers meaningful (i.e. at an appropriate level of detail and not overly abbreviated) on the customer bill; specifically, the font size required for such messaging was very small and resulted in messages that were difficult to read on a printed bill.”
The BCUC considers that the proposed messaging is a reasonable and practical approach to notifying customers of rate changes. Therefore, the BCUC accepts the proposed change to PNG’s bill messaging, and further clarifies that, unless otherwise directed by the BCUC, PNG does not require approval for specific language in its bill messaging.
Sincerely,
Original signed by:
Patrick Wruck
Commission Secretary
JO/db
cc: gdoyle@png.ca; regulatory@png.ca;