FortisBC to provide bill credits for wildfire evacuees

Aug 25, 2023

FortisBC is supporting customers and emergency officials as wildfires continue across British Columbia

Kelowna, B.C.—August 25, 2023: To support communities impacted by wildfires, evacuees will be eligible for bill credits on their FortisBC Energy Inc. and FortisBC Inc. (collectively FortisBC) accounts for the time period that they were evacuated.

“We understand the ongoing wildfire situation has had a number of impacts on many of our customers, especially for those evacuated from their homes or businesses,” said Sarah Nelson, director, customer service, FortisBC. “For these customers, we want to make sure that their energy bill is one less thing to worry about.”

FortisBC customers under evacuation order due to wildfires will receive a bill credit to cover energy used at their home or business for the duration of the evacuation period. To make the billing relief process simple, FortisBC will automatically apply the credit by cross-referencing billing data with evacuation information from municipalities, First Nations band councils, the provincial government, and its operations team. Depending on the timing of the evacuation, billing cycles and the volume of customers impacted, these credits may take several months to appear on bills.

In addition, FortisBC has also paused collection-related activities, including outreach to customers to remind them of outstanding amounts and are waiving late payment charges that may have otherwise occurred during the evacuation period.

FortisBC continues to support emergency officials in responding to wildfires across the province. The company is now working to restore gas to a line that has been shut off in the West Kelowna area at the request of emergency officials.

With a number of wildfires being seen across the province, FortisBC is actively monitoring the wildfires in Kamloops, Keremeos and the Shuswap regions, and taking necessary mitigation steps to help minimize the impact to customers and support the emergency response.

 

Media contact