Electrical

The Town of Cardston Bylaw concerning Electricity Distribution is Bylaw 1649: Electricity Distribution Bylaw. The Bylaw is a consolidation of the following schedules which are updated periodically:

The Town of Cardston owns and operates the electrical infrastructure system within the Town of Cardston. Property owners must choose an electrical retailer prior to connection to the Town system.

Getting Connected

The Town Electrical Department operates the Cardston distribution system and completes the physical connection of all new services. The Town also provides Temporary service to Residential and Commercial sites during construction.  A description of these services and associated Fees are contained in the Town of Cardston Distribution Tariff Bylaw – Schedule C. Contact the Electrical Department at 403 653-5672 for information on your specific site requirements. Prior to connection of a new site to the Cardston system, contractors or owners are required to contact ENMAX Power for assignment of a new Site ID number at your location. ENMAX Power provides this service to the Town and the Site ID is then used for billing purposes no matter which Retailer you choose to provide electricity to your site.

Go to EMNAX website to request a site ID. 

Downloads

Solar Production

Cardston produces approximately 200mWh of solar electricity annually from solar panels installed on two Town owned facilities. The systems are sized to net-zero the facilities, producing slightly more electricity than the facilities consume annually, saving the tax payers approximately $20,000 per year at current rates. Any excess electricity produced during high output days is fed back into the Town owned grid and distributed to other facilities in Cardston.

Production data for each facility can be viewed by clicking on the respective links below.

Cardston Civic Centre

Click here to view Civic Centre solar production monitoring

141 350-watt Solar Panels producing 52 mega watt hours of electricity every year.

Charlie Cheesman Memorial Ice Arena

Click here to view Charlie Cheesman Memorial Ice Arena solar production monitoring 

406 350-watt solar panels producing 160 mega watt hours of electricity every year.

Town of Cardston Solar Farm (West Industrial Area)

4,752 400-watt solar panels producing 2,500 mega watt hours of electricity every year.

Information for properties with solar or other electricity generators.

Electrical Emergencies

For ELECTRICAL EMERGENCIES or power outages in the Town of Cardston please call

• 403-308-0524 or

• 403-653-5035

Code of Conduct

Complaints about contraventions of the Code of Conduct Regulation may be made to the Alberta Utilities Commission or the Market Surveillance Administrator. The Alberta Utilities Commission can be reached by contacting 1-780-427- 4903 or consumer-relations@auc.ab.ca. The Market Surveillance Administrator can be reached by contacting 1-403-705-3181 or compliance@albertamsa.ca. The Alberta Utilities Commission and the Market Surveillance Administrator are independent of the Town of Cardston and the regulated rate suppliers and affiliated providers. For general and billing inquiries, refer to the contact information on your bill.

Town of Cardston Compliance Plan

The Alberta government supports freedom of choice with utility providers for electricity. 

For information regarding a retail supplier of electricity in Cardston, here are some web sites to help:

• Utilities Consumer Advocate (www.ucahelps.alberta.ca)

• Conpare Alberta Energy Options (energyrates.ca/alberta/)

Complaints about contraventions of the Code of Conduct Regulation may be made to the Alberta Utilities Commission or the Market Surveillance Administrator. The Alberta Utilities Commission can be reached by contacting 1-780-427- 4903 or consumer-relations@auc.ab.ca. The Market Surveillance Administrator can be reached by contacting 1-403-705-3181 or compliance@albertamsa.ca. The Alberta Utilities Commission and the Market Surveillance Administrator are independent of the Town of Cardston and the regulated rate suppliers and affiliated providers. For general and billing inquiries, refer to the contact information on this bill.

Download the Town of Cardston Code of Conduct Compliance Plan

The regulated rate is the default electric energy price. It is a permanent option for Albertans and there is no end date. The RRO is the monthly rate for electricity automatically provided to all eligible customers who have not entered into a contract with a competitive electricity retailer. For details on the rate that is currently being charged to RRO customers you can check the rates in the table below.

RRO Energy Rates and a historic file of the previous regulated rates for at least the previous 12 months.

What is the balancing pool rider?
You may notice a charge on your electric utility bill called the "Balancing Pool Rider". This is a charge of 0.00353 cents per kilowatt hour which goes towards the balancing pool. The Balancing Pool was established in 1999 by the Government of Alberta to help manage certain assets, revenues and expenses arising from the transition to competition in Alberta’s electric industry. Recent changes in provincial government policy have affected what was once a profitable balancing pool, necessitating the new charge. 

Alberta One Call

Before commencing any excavation please call Alberta One Call to have the utilities marked. Call toll free at 1-800-242-3447 or request a locate online at http://www.alberta1call.com/contact.html

AEUSA

The vision of the Alberta Electric Utility Safety Association (AEUSA) is to promote electric utility safety within the Province of Alberta. Visit their site at http://www.aeusa.ca/.

Where’s the line?

The following is a list of links to materials and resources dedicated to working safely around power lines.

wherestheline.ca
Where’s the line: on Facebook
Where’s the line: Media