Questions about your utility bill?

We want to help you find the answers to your questions. The utility industry can be complex. The production and delivery of natural gas and electricity to homes and businesses involves an integrated network of delivery systems, companies and agencies, and billing charges. Add to this, no two jurisdictions regulate utilities exactly the same. This means it can be confusing for those not involved with the industry day-to-day or new to Alberta.

The Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) regulates some of the electric and natural gas utilities in Alberta. Through regulation, ​rates are determined when applications from utilities are reviewed in a public proceeding to ensure safe and reliable service is delivered to customers at just and reasonable rates, and to allow utilities the opportunity to earn a reasonable rate of return on their investment.

If you have questions, concerns or issues with your bill, the AUC recommends the following steps for having your billing issues and concerns addressed:

Contact the company that sends you your utility bill

Before contacting the AUC, give your utility provider an opportunity to resolve your concern by contacting their customer service department. If the utility has made a billing or service error, they will often resolve the issue without you needing to contact the AUC or the consumer advocate.

Contact the Utilities Consumer Advocate

If your utility retail service provider is unable to resolve your concern, or you are dissatisfied with the resolution, contact the Utilities Consumer Advocate (UCA) for assistance at 310-4822 or ucahelps@gov.ab.ca.

The UCA has a mandate to educate, advocate and mediate for Alberta’s residential, farm and small business electricity, natural gas and water consumers, and advocate for energy consumers. They are able to mediate disputes between customers and utility companies, including competitive retailers. The UCA also advocates for Albertans by representing the interests of residential, farm and small business consumers in AUC regulatory hearings where rates and terms and conditions of service are determined.

​The AUC reviews formal complaint

The UCA often mediates concerns, but if your situation cannot be resolved through informal complaint mediation the AUC can consider the issue through its formal complaint process that is either referred to the AUC by the consumer advocate or sent to info@auc.ab.ca to request a formal complaint proceeding.​

The AUC is not a consumer advocate, and its​ mandate is to balance the interests of both customers and the regulated service providers. When reviewing customer concerns, the AUC ensures that regulated companies are following their approved rates, terms and conditions of service and applicable legislation.

Upon receiving your concern, AUC staff will review a number of factors to determine how to proceed.

If, after reviewing the information, AUC staff believe the utility may not be in compliance with approved rates, terms and conditions of service or legislation, we will escalate your concern for further review by our compliance and enforcement group, as staff cannot make formal decisions about whether a company has complied or not. Only appointed Commission members can make these decisions. ​

Additional resources

More information on these steps can be found on the AUC’s Billing issues & concerns web page.​

The AUC has a number of online resources to help you arrive at the information you’re looking for, including:

• How rates are set
• Connection and choice
• Short-term billing assistance
• Frequently asked questions

For inquiries or more information, please contact info@auc.ab.ca.​