Alberta introduces inflation relief bill, but key details still to come

Key details about new inflation relief measures announced last month by Premier Danielle Smith remain up in the air even after the introduction of enabling legislation in the Alberta legislature.

Affordability and Utilities Minister Matt Jones introduced Bill 2, the Inflation Statutes Amendment Act, 2022, on Wednesday. The bill amends four pieces of legislation including the Alberta Personal Income Tax Act and the Regulated Rate Option Stability Act.

The measures covered by the bill include suspension of the fuel tax for the first six months of 2023, indexation of personal income tax brackets and a ceiling on regulated electricity rates for three months. 

Eligible individuals who qualify will receive non-taxable $100 cash payments for six months, but specifics about who is eligible and how and when they can apply are still not finalized. 

The first cash payment would come sometime in January but Jones declined to say whether it would be in the early or later part of the month. The details would be worked out through regulations from cabinet that will come by the end of December, he said. 

"These relief measures are new. They are also very broad and they're going to go to millions of Albertans," Jones told reporters at a news conference Wednesday morning.

"So there is work to be done to ensure that the the programs are in place to onboard Albertans and make sure they receive those payments."

Jones is standing by the decision to provide monthly cash payments to seniors and families with children under the age of 18 that have a maximum household income of $180,000 but not to low-income single people and couples without children.

NDP finance critic Shannon Phillips said the government's decisions on who should get benefits cut out many Albertans who are struggling with their finances. She said the government is focused more on passing the Alberta Sovereignty Act than on working out the details of their inflation assistance program. 

"If they cannot deliver it in January, then they should not promise it then, " she said. "This has been a back-of-the-napkin approach from the very beginning."

People who receive income support, people in the Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped program and people in the Persons with Developmental Disabilities program will also receive the $100 cash benefits. Jones said they will not need to apply. 

The government has already announced it will start indexing monthly benefits to a six percent rate of inflation. The January payment with the higher amounts will be in people's bank accounts on Dec. 22. 

Help with electricity bills

The government provided more details on the relief for people who pay a regulated rate on their electricity bills. This will come in the form of a price ceiling of $13.5 cents per kilowatt-hour in January, February and March. 

The government will cover the difference between the ceiling and the actual rate by providing loans to Regulated Rate Option providers. Customers will pay back the difference from April 1, 2023, to Dec. 31, 2024.

An electricity rebate program will be extended four months via a regulation. People can expect to see up to $75 in relief in January and February, and $25 in March and April. A natural gas rebate will become a year-round program to give eligible Albertans relief when the price hits $6.50 per gigajoule.

Alberta is re-indexing income tax brackets to the rate of inflation, a practice the government suspended suspended in 2019 as a cost-saving measure. The change means the basic personal amount will go from $19,369 to $19,814 in 2022 and up to $21,003 in 2023.

The province estimates this increase will exempt an additional 80,000 to 95,000 Albertans from having to pay provincial taxes in 2023.

The government is also indexing the Alberta Child and Family Benefit starting Jan. 1, 2023.

The cost of the inflation assistance measures is estimated at $2.8 billion over three years.