The Town of Bowden has officially entered into a new electricity distribution system franchise agreement with FortisAlberta.
Bowden council adopted a bylaw at its June 24 meeting that includes the new agreement.
Andy Weiss, the town's chief administrative officer, said the new agreement focuses more on service provisions than any financial changes and gives Bowden clear guidelines in the event of any problem with the level of service or infrastructure upgrades FortisAlberta provides to the community.
“This franchise agreement lays out very specific methodology to address those potential issues,” he said, adding the franchise agreement can only be entered into through a bylaw.
Stan Orlesky, FortisAlberta's senior stakeholders relations manager, said in an email that one notable change in the agreement has to do with when the utility seeks approval from the town to complete major work.
Previously, the utility needed municipal approval to conduct any major work costing $50,000 or more.
That amount has been increased to $100,000.
If the town wants to adjust the franchise fee FortisAlberta charges residents for electricity and then passes on to the town and have that change become effective for the beginning of a new year, the town must now advise FortisAlberta by Nov. 1 whereas previously, the notice deadline was Dec. 1.
The utility has also made information about the maintenance and replacement of streetlights in the community more streamlined and clear.
For example, Weiss said, in the past, there was not a defined timeline for the length of time between streetlight inspections.
Now, inspections are scheduled to take place yearly.
And, under the new agreement, the town is no longer able to move utility poles or other utility facilities.
As for financial changes, the agreement states the “monthly cost for an average residential customer is forecast to increase by $0.42 to $6.48 from $6.06” for the linear tax portion of a resident's bill.
The Alberta Utilities Commission approved FortisAlberta's application for a new “franchise agreement template” last year.
Every Alberta community where FortisAlberta provides service would share the same agreement, if those communities approve the new template, and the deadline for approval is Jan. 1, 2014.
After Bowden council gave the bylaw including the agreement first reading in March, it was submitted to the AUC, which granted the bylaw formal approval on June 3.
The term of the agreement is 10 years, with the option of two, five-year extensions.
