Understanding Your Bill

Sections On Your Bill Explained

• INVOICE DATE

  Invoice date is the date your bill was issued and mailed to you. Transactions after this date will appear on your next bill. Billing period is the period of time in which charges are billed to your account.

• ACCOUNT NUMBER

  Your account number is a unique number that identifies your account with Pacific Northern Gas Ltd. (PNG).

  Note, you have a new 8-digit account number as of August 3, 2021. This new account number can be found on your August/September 2021 bill, and subsequent bills thereafter.

• PREMISES NUMBER

  This is a unique number identifying the meter that is measuring the gas being consumed at this premise. You may see this number change if your meter is exchanged due to routine maintenance.

• RATE CATEGORY

  This identifies the classification of service you are receiving from PNG.

• PREVIOUS PAYMENTS AND BALANCE FORWARD

  This shows the balance of your previous bill and any payments, credits, or adjustments applied to your account prior to this billing.

• AMOUNT DUE ON DATE

  This is the due date of your bill. This is the latest date we should receive payment in full for current charges. Any unpaid balance remaining after the due date is subject to a 1.5% late payment fee. Please note that any unpaid balance from previous bills is already past due and should be paid immediately.

• BUDGET PLAN INFORMATION

  If you are enrolled in Budget Billing, this area shows you what you have consumed to date (Current Charges to Date), what you have been billed to date (Installments Billed to Date), and the difference between what you’ve used versus what you’ve been billed (Differential). If you’ve used more than you’ve been billed for, you carry a differential balance. If you’ve used less than you’ve been billed for, you’ll see a credit. For more information on how Budget Billing works, visit Budget Billing.

• SPECIAL MESSAGE BOXES

  These areas of your bill are reserved for special and important messages regarding changes to gas rates, revisions to taxes or tax rates, and other important things that you should be aware of. Please pay special attention to messages that appear in this box.

• PAYMENT RETURN SLIP

  This slip gives your account number, bill due date and total amount due. If you pay either by mail or pay in person at your financial institution, please include the return slip.

• MAILING ADDRESS

  This is the address your bills are sent to. For some customers, this may be different than the service address. You should check to make sure the address is correct. If it is not, please notify us and we will update our records.

• BASIC CHARGE

  A standard fee charged to all customers. This fee pays a portion of the cost of the facilities required by PNG to deliver gas to its customers. The fee is charged whether you are using gas or not.

• DELIVERY CHARGES

  Delivery Charges are made up of a basic charge, delivery charge and rate riders. These fees are paid to cover the costs of maintaining the natural gas system. All delivery charges are reviewed annually by PNG’s economic regulator, the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC).

  Delivery Charge
  This charge is based on your use and is to recover the costs incurred by PNG to deliver gas through its facilities to your home or business.

  RSAM Delivery Rider
  RSAM stands for “Revenue Stabilization Adjustment Mechanism” and is applied to rates to enable PNG to stabilize revenue from year to year. Every year, PNG forecasts how much revenue it will receive from customers based on the annual forecast of gas to be consumed by customers. It is impossible to forecast this amount exactly as deliveries to customers vary due to weather.

  If the weather is colder than expected, then more gas will be consumed and revenues may be greater than what was forecast to be recovered from customers. Therefore, PNG is allowed by the British Columbia Utilities Commission to record the difference between forecast and actual revenue recovery from residential and small commercial customers in the RSAM deferral account. Either a credit or a debit RSAM rate rider will be added to residential and small commercial customer’s rates for the following year.

  Company Use Delivery Rider
  The term Company Use refers to the gas PNG consumes in the operation of its gas pipeline systems in each service area. The delivery charge payable by customers is based on a forecast of the gas market prices PNG expects to pay to gas suppliers over a 12-month period. The difference between the forecast commodity cost PNG charges its customers and the actual gas market prices are recorded by PNG in an account called the Gas Cost Variance Account (GCVA). The balance of this account is reviewed by PNG and the British Columbia Utilities Commission every three months. Either a credit or a debit rate rider will be applied until the next review period. In this way, customers pay the same cost for company use gas as is paid by PNG.

• COMMODITY CHARGES

  Commodity charges reflect the costs of buying and transporting gas. PNG doesn’t mark up these costs—you pay what we pay.

  Commodity Charge
  This is the charge for the gas you have consumed in this billing period. This recovers the costs paid by PNG to buy gas on the open market. These costs are passed through to you without mark-up and are reviewed by the British Columbia Utilities Commission every three months. The commodity charge will change periodically, either decreasing or increasing in response to changes in the gas market prices.

  GCVA Commodity Rider
  The commodity charge payable by customers is based on a forecast of the gas market prices PNG expects to pay to gas suppliers over a 12-month period. The difference between the forecast commodity cost PNG charges its customers and the actual gas market prices are recorded by PNG in an account called the Gas Cost Variance Account (GCVA). The balance of this account is reviewed by PNG and the British Columbia Utilities Commission every three months. Either a credit or a debit rate rider will be applied until the next review period. In this way, customers pay the same cost for gas as is paid by PNG.

• TAXES AND OTHER CHARGES

  Carbon Tax
  Carbon Tax is a Provincial tax that applies to the purchase of all fossil fuels within the Province of B.C. The tax is collected by the Energy Supplier and remitted directly to the Provincial Government.

  Franchise Fee (Municipal Operating Fee)
  A franchise fee or operating fee is collected by PNG on behalf of some municipalities for allowing PNG to install and operate its pipeline distribution system in streets and laneways owned by the municipality. PNG pays the municipality the franchise fee collected in the previous calendar year by the end of March of the following year.

  Innovative Clean Energy (ICE) Fund
  The ICE Fund levy was introduced by the provincial government to support the Province’s energy, economic, environmental, and greenhouse gas reduction priorities and to advance B.C.’s clean energy sector.

  GST
  PNG collects 5% GST on all transactions on behalf of the federal government.

  PST
  PNG collects 7% PST is charged for certain types of consumption on behalf of the provincial government.

• GAS USE CALCULATION

  This shows how much gas you’ve used over the billing period. It lists your current meter reading, and subtracts your previous meter reading. The volume used is multiplied by a conversion factor that accounts for your location’s standard conditions of temperature and pressure to give your gas usage in gigajoules (GJ). One GJ is roughly the amount of energy needed to heat a typical house for one day during cold winter weather. You pay for the gas you consume, measured in gigajoules.

• HISTORICAL USAGE GRAPH

  This is a graphical representation of the consumption recorded on your account compared to past months.