KAWARTHA LAKES-Sarah Campbell and her family were excited at the prospect of saving money when natural gas came to Cambray. That excitement quickly turned to anger when they got their first bill. “I was not aware of this charge prior to switching everything over for natural gas. We spend thousands of dollars to convert.” Campbell told Kawartha411 News.
Copies of her second bill, sent to Kawartha 411 News, show a “Gas Expansion Surcharge” and it”s approximately 75% on top of the standard fee’s. For example the standard charges on her bill from December 18th to January 17th are $160.89 and the surcharge is an additional $118.45. The first bill was only for ten days and had a $30 surcharge.
Enbridge admits local residents are being charged more and says their marketing material now contains a disclaimer notifying local residents of the Gas Expansion Surcharge. However they admit the first version of the material may not have had this information. You can see even now, its in very tiny fine print and does not say how much it will increase the bill.
“For customers in Fenelon Falls, Cambray and Cameron, there is a system expansion surcharge of .23 cents per cubic metre (m3). This is the customer’s contribution towards the project and it will appear as a separate line item on their bill,” said Enbridge Gas in an email to Kawartha 411 News.
And it’s not a one time charge. “The maximum period for the system expansion surcharge will be 40 years. However, it may be applied for a shorter period of time depending on the number of customers or total cost of the project.” says Enbridge.
According to Campbell no one else in Ontario has this surcharge on their bill. “There was an expansion on Scugog Island and they were not charged with this monthly fee. I have talked to so many employees at Enbridge and not one knew about this fee.” Campbell says,
“People in this community are preparing to convert to natural gas and don’t have a CLUE about this surcharge.”
It’s not clear why the customers are paying for the project when Enbridge received 12.3 million dollars from province to expand the pipeline. The City also gave some tax in lieu for easements and right of ways for the pipeline as a municipal contribution for the pipeline for 10 years.
The Enbridge representative says even if there was no notice on the marketing material, its written in the contracts but Campbell disputes that. “I have called Enbridge multiple times. I think they are getting tired of hearing from me. The last I was told is they are looking for a contract. If they can’t find it then they will remove the fee. Well I didn’t receive nor sign a contract.”
“It’s costing us more now than before.” Campbell exclaims.
