BC Hydro has just announced a special 2016/2017 Winter Payment Plan option that will give residential customers the choice to spread bill payments over a six-month period.
With the colder than average temperatures this season, BC Hydro is seeing electricity consumption reach record levels. On January 3, a 10-year record for peak electricity demand was broken, the utility said in a news statement.
“Given the unusually cold weather, we anticipate that many of our customers will receive higher than normal bills,” Hydro President Jessica McDonald said in the statement. “We recognize that some customers may need the option to manage the costs over a longer period of time. This program allows them to do that.”
The 2016/2017 Winter Payment Plan provides residential customers with the option to spread out payments of winter bills over a six-month period. The winter billing period runs from December 1, 2016, to March 31, 2017.
Customers who would like participate in the Winter Payment Plan can call BC Hydro’s customer service team toll-free at 1-800-224-9376.
To save energy and money, BC Hydro is also encouraging customers to take advantage of the free electricity tracking tools available on bchydro.com. These tools allow customers to:
- See their electricity use right down to the hour;
- Compare their electricity use to similar homes nearby, to last year’s electricity use, and to the average outside temperature;
- Set up alerts and reminders;
- See their estimated bill; and
- Download their home’s electricity use data for offline analysis.
