Letter: About Access Gas
By Letters to the editor
To the Editor:
I was recently visited by a representative of Access Gas offering me participation in the Customer Choice Program which guarantees you stable pricing for the gas you receive via Fortis for the next five years. The program is well presented and documented and is perfectly legitimate.
But although this all sounds fine, when I read the agreement I discovered that I would end up paying $6.89 per gigajoule compared to the current $2.05 per gigajoule (see “Cost of Gas” under the Commodity Charges heading on your gas bill). I confirmed my interpretation of the agreement by phoning Access’ office. At that higher rate I would pay an additional $630 per year for gas (this figure will depend on your consumption).
Given that it’s highly unlikely that the price of gas will increase that much in the next five years this seems like a no-win insurance arrangement. Nonetheless it is up to each consumer to decide whether insuring themselves against greater increases is worth paying over three times as much for gas now.
Even if you have already signed an agreement, you have 10 days in which to call them and cancel.
Regards,
Raymond Gaudart,
Rossland.
