Get ready for a big shock come heating time

Ken’s
Korner

As the dog days of summer are now heating us up to the boiling point, a friendly reminder that winter is just around the corner arrived in the mail about a week ago.
The gas company has raised its rates again, but this time it is not during the frosty months of winter. It is at a time when the bills are hardly noticed.
But mark my words... if you have not read the little notices in the gas bills over the past few months... you are in for a BIG shock once it gets cold.
Rates have climbed back up to levels that will make even the most efficiently gas heated home seem expensive to heat this winter. The latest increase put them up over 28 cents per cubic metre... just slightly below the peak that hit a couple of winters ago.
Gas rates have never been cheap since deregulation and some say that the deregulation of electricity has something to do with them becoming even more expensive. As electricity rates skyrocket, big industries switch to natural gas. That means there is less for the average homeowner at a cheaper price.
So what is the government going to do this winter? Give us another heat rebate cheque that barely makes a dent in the extremely high cost of heating our homes?
We can see from the past how effective it has been to deregulate gas and electricity... while providers boast cheaper prices for consumers... I have yet to see them here or in any jurisdiction.
Are governments blind? They must be. Either that or they make so much money personally they don’t care if their gas bills go up by 50-60 %.
–Until then,
Ken