Created under s. 7 of the Government Organization Act, the Power and Natural Gas Consumer’s Panel (“the Committee”) is an advisory agency accountable to the Minister of Affordability and Utilities (“Minister”) and responsible for providing advice and guidance regarding current and emerging energy consumer issues.
Please find the Committee's Financial Disclosure information here.
The Committee:
Is responsible for providing advice to the Minister regarding the following:
- The interests of residential, farm, and small business electricity and natural gas consumer in Alberta with respect to policy and regulatory issues, with emphasis on:
- Regulated rate structures for electricity and natural gas so they are formulated to best serve Albertans
- Consistency in billing for utility services, so that consumers more easily understand the components of their bill, even if they change providers
- Local access and municipal franchise fees impacts on consumer bills
- The electricity pricing system with the goal of reducing transmission and distribution costs
- Issues that are of concern to consumers
- Options for addressing concerns to consumers
- Opportunities to enhance educational activities and supports for consumers to make informed decisions about electricity and natural gas services
- Interventions in proceedings of the Alberta Utilities Commission or other regulators
- The annual budget of the Utilities Consumer Advocate (UCA)
- The priorities and effectiveness of the UCA in meeting its mandate to educate, mediate, and advocate for consumers
- On the following final or draft documents:
- Respecting the UCA referred to the Panel by the Minister
- Any policy papers referred by the Minister, or tabled by Service Alberta or other government departments or agencies for the Panel’s input.
- Other electricity and natural gas consumer-related matters as may be requested by the Minister, including but not limited to:
- Support to vulnerable consumers
- Retailer customer service and billing
- Distributor consumer service and fees
- Terms and conditions of consumer contracts
- Distribution and transmission policy concerns of consumers
- Energy efficiency and consumption
- Emerging “prosumer” issues (i.e., someone who is simultaneously a producer and consumer, such as in the case of micro-generation)
- Will ensure its plan and priorities for the next year, as well as its achievements for the previous year, are reflected in the UCA Strategic Plan and UCA Annual Report respectively.
- Will make all reasonable efforts to ensure that the advice provided to the Minister is evidence-based
- Will engage stakeholders and the public in order to gather information and become knowledgeable about different perspectives to ensure informed advice is provided.
- Will discuss with the Assistant Deputy Minister (ADM) of Affordability their resource support needs and adjust its plans in accordance with the resource supports agreed to by the ADM and resource supports available from other sources (e.g. stakeholders represented on the Committee), where applicable.
- Will hold meetings as required, but generally at least 2-3 times a year.
- Is responsible for overseeing compliance with all relevant policies and procedures by which the Committee operates, and ensuring that the Committee operates at all times in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, the Committee’s Code of Conduct and to the highest ethical standards.
- Through an efficient process led by the Chair, conducts an annual evaluation and review of the performance of the Committee, sub-committees, and the Chair of the Committee. The Committee reviews the results of such evaluation and discusses potential ways to improve Committee effectiveness. The Committee also discusses the results of the evaluation and adopts agreed upon improvements.
- Is responsible for addressing how it interacts with the public and will consult with the Minister on items of concern.