A rate rider is a temporary credit or charge that can appear on electricity and natural gas bills.
Rate riders are used to recover the actual cost of providing utility services. While they are often used to collect additional funds from consumers, they can also be used to issue refunds if consumers were previously overcharged.
When a company needs to add a rate rider, it applies to the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC). Upon approval, the rate rider is applied to utility customer bills for a set period. Rate riders must be approved by the AUC before they can be applied to consumer bills.
Common rate riders include:
- Municipal franchise and local access fees
- Transmission surcharges
- Special facilities charges
- Balancing Pool riders
- True-up, bad debt and late payment charges
- Unaccounted for gas
Rate riders are updated monthly, quarterly, or annually to reflect the actual cost of providing services for a specific time period. In some cases, a rate rider may be applied temporarily to recover one-time costs related to a specific initiative or event.
Active rate riders are available on the AUC website.
