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Utility bill skyrockets overnight for Hub Town Brewing

Municipality suggests small businesses band together for bulk electricity purchase to combat rate increases.
Hub Town Brewery 0015
Hub Town Brewery founders Mark and Lisa Watts pose for a photo in the brewery. (BRENT CALVER/Western Wheel File Photo)

The owners of a favourite Okotoks brewery are suffering from sticker shock after receiving a utility bill more than six times that of their typical month without a change in usage. 

"Over the three-and-a-half years we’ve been in business, you plan for changes, you plan for increases; but you don’t plan for a nearly 600 per cent increase," said Hub Town Brewery owner Lisa Watts. 

She said when the business opened back in 2019, the building's utility bill was usually around $1,400 a month. The Watts' most recent bill was a whopping $9,500. 

"We went from 19 cents/kWh to 33 cents/kWh overnight," said Watts. "It was just a rate change, there was no usage change, there was no explanation to why, how, what the issue was or why it happened." 

On top of the inflated rate, another large fee was added to the bill as an "overage charge" without an explanation, according to the business owner. 

Most of the building's usage comes from interior LED lights and an air exchange unit, which has to be running 24/7. 

"It’s not clear how a business is charged almost $2,000 in overage charges when overage is related to your air exchange," said Watts. "It’s not clear how you fix a problem like that, it’s tacked on no matter what you do."

The significant gaps in residential and business rates are also something Watts is concerned about. 

"I just want to know, how is it OK to gouge a business who’s supporting our local economy when we can’t even pay our own bills, much less put anything aside to do more in the community?" she said. 

Watts and her husband Mark, who works full time in the oil and gas industry on top of running the small business, have been in contact with government officials at the municipal, provincial and federal level. 

Lisa said they want answers on how this is allowed. 

In the meantime, the most tangible solution seems to be to come together with other Okotoks businesses for a bulk electricity purchase in hopes of negotiating a lower rate. This was suggested by the Town of Okotoks. 

Watts is hoping other business owners will reach out so the planning and strategizing can begin. She wants all small businesses to be protected from "outrageous" prices. 

The utility company has offered to lock Hub Town into a rate, but the owners are not optimistic that rate would be fair. 

At the same time, the pair is in the midst of appealing its property tax assessment, which saw the value of its building jump $400,000. Since 2020, the Watts have engaged in a lease-to-purchase agreement, which will be executed in May. 

"The part of the process we’ve reached so far is working with the assessor to figure out how he valued the building that we’re in," Watts said. "We now essentially have to show him everything that we have to prove that the value of our building isn’t what he’s claiming it is.  

"We’re trying to show all our improvements that we’ve done and our purchase agreement we have with the landlord. Essentially, we have to prove that he’s not valuing it properly." 

Watts said that the justification for the high assessment jump was the re-invigoration of Okotoks' downtown post-pandemic, with the assessor highlighting homes in the area selling for higher dollar values. 

She explained that businesses are just not there yet. 

"We’re not actually recovering yet," said Watts. "People think that because COVID’s over that we’ve all recovered, but it’s actually going to take us upwards of two to three years to recover from the loss of revenue we experienced." 

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