After a tumultuous year for FortisBC which included an six-month lock-out, the electric company is set for a strong year in 2014.Fortis provides electricity to customers in the area immediately surrounding Grand Forks but not the city itself, which buys electricity from Fortis and sells directly to residents.Unfortunately, a recently approved 3 per cent rate hike will see customers having slightly higher electric bills.“We applied to the B.C. Utilities Committee (BCUC), which is our regulator, for a rate increase of 3.3 per cent,” said Grace Pickell, FortisBC spokesperson. “That rate was approved and went into affect on Jan. 1. To continue to provide a safe and reliable electricity for our customers, we have also filed a five year plan with BCUC. We are constantly working with BCUC to adjust rates and determine what’s appropriate for our customers.”Pickell said that although Fortis rates are higher than other providers such as Hydro, the company has spent a lot of money to upgrade their infrastructure.“We design and manage our system based on the resources available to us and the needs of our customers,” she said. “Since we purchased the utility in 2004, we have made about $500 million worth of investments in the infrastructure in things such as power lines, transmission lines and substations to make it safer and more reliable for our customers, so that’s part of the reason why.”As for keeping your electricity bill down, Pickell says that space heating is the number one energy draining culprit in the home.Average energy use:Space heating – 48% of typical energy billElectronics and appliances – 23%Water heating – 13%Furnace (electric) costs on average $178 of energy/month“I think it’s important for people to know that our customer’s bills increase by 50 per cent over the winter time,” said Pickell. “(It’s from) people turning up their heat because they’re cold or turning on lights longer because it’s dark out or people using space heaters.”Pickell recommends that people install programmable thermostats to save money.“That way, they can have it set for 20 degrees when they’re home,” she said. “Then it will automatically lower down to 17 degrees when they’re at work or bundled up in bed. That’s a good way to regular the electricity in your home without thinking about it.”Pickell also adds that something most people don’t know about is that phantom power can drain electricity, even when electronics aren’t turned on.“Even when your TV or PVR are turned off, they are still drawing power and that’s called phantom power,” she said. “About 40 per cent of the energy used by electronics like computers and PVRs is consumed in standby mode. Even though they’re off, they’re using energy to run the clock or for the flashing lights.”She recommends plugging electronics into a power bar and then turning off the power bar when not using the items to stop the flow of electricity.LockoutThe recent FortisBC lockout lasted for about six months and ended when the union (IBEW – International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) accepted FortisBC’s offer for binding arbitration in December.“We’ll be going into that in the next couple of months,” said Neal Pobran, spokesperson for FortisBC. “We were back to work, it varied depending on shifts, the week of December 15.”Pobran said the company did not have meter readers out reading meters.“We were able to do a few, but with the lockout we weren’t able to read as many meters as we usually do,” he said. “What we were doing was estimating customer’s rates based on historical information at their address. So based on what they would’ve used the previous year.”Pobran said that if customers don’t think their bill should be so high, they should give the company a call.“What we’re doing now is getting our verified meter reads right now,” he said. “The important thing to note about meters is they do keep track of all usage through that time. It’s not reset every month. So we do have an accurate number of what customer’s used during that time. So we’re sending out bills based on that.”Pobran said the company could make adjustments to customer’s previous bills based on that collected data.FortisBC has an essential services order, said Pobran, so the company was able to maintain the electricity infrastructure during the labour strife.“We had certain negotiated terms of what we can have for people working to ensure emergencies were handled,” he said.Pobran also said that Fortis now has a residential conservation rate which could affect customer’s bills in March and April.“If a customer uses under 1,600 kilowatt hours every two months they get a lower rate,” he said. “Anything above that gets a higher rate. If people can save energy efficiently, they get a better rate.”Advanced (Smart) MetersIn July of 2013, FortisBC received approval from the BCUC to install advanced (smart) meters in all customer’s houses.Customers who are concerned about the advanced meters can opt for a radio-off option.The cost, which was approved by BCUC in December, is $60 before the meters are installed and $88 afterwards. The customers would also have to pay $18 every two months to have the meter read manually.“It’ll be a new advanced meter, but the radio will be turned off if that’s what the customer wishes,” said Pobran.Pobran said the company hopes to begin exchanging the meters starting this summer. He says they will notify customers by letter a month before to let them know.“We’re expecting to be done all the meter exchanges by the end of 2015,” he said. “We went through a long regulatory process (with BCUC to get the advanced meters approved), we expect there to be at least $13 million in savings which will go back to the customers. We do expect it will be beneficial to rates in the long run.”