TORONTO — Enbridge Gas (formerly Union Gas) customers in Thunder Bay and northwestern Ontario can expect to see a small increase in their monthly bills.
The company announced Friday that the Ontario Energy Board has approved modest hikes in rates that customers pay for the distribution, transmission and storage of natural gas.
In the northwest, the rate impact is only three dollars a year.
Delivery rates are adjusted annually, and the retroactive change that took effect Friday normally would have occurred at the beginning of 2019.
However, approval was delayed while the OEB dealt with the amalgamation of Enbridge Gas and Union Gas.
This rate change is separate from the rate for the cost of the natural gas itself.
That rate is adjusted every quarter.
An Enbridge spokesperson says the latest adjustment, last month, was a reduction between three and eight per cent, depending on location.
She said that in this quarter, "taking the two rate adjustments into account, customer bills are expected to be about the same as last year," barring severe weather conditions.
Natural gas costs, the company said, remain lower than they were a decade ago.
