A line has been drawn in the sand across the Skeena region. With Kitimat’s council recently voting to join Terrace, Telkwa, and other northern communities in unified opposition to Pacific Northern Gas’s staggering rate hike, our local leaders have given a name to a burden every northerner knows intimately: the Northern Tax.
It’s a tax you won’t find on any government form, but you pay it every time you open a bill. It’s the silent understanding that for the privilege of living in the region that powers the province, you must pay more for the essentials of life.
The strong, principled stand being championed by leaders like Terrace Mayor Sean Bujtas and Kitimat Councillor Michelle Martins is not just about a single utility bill. It is a challenge to a systemic inequity that has been accepted for far too long. When a leader’s position is right, it deserves the full force of the community’s support.
PNG’s proposal to double delivery charges is simply the latest and most egregious example. They cite their own rising costs and a shrinking customer base, but their solution asks families on fixed incomes to secure their corporate balance sheets and shareholder profits.
It is critical, however, to make a distinction. This fight is not with the local PNG employees who live and work alongside us. They are our neighbours. They will be paying the same punishing rate hikes as everyone else. The frustration is not with them; it is with a corporate strategy, decided far from here, that places the entire financial burden on the customers they serve—including their own staff.
Understanding the System and Finding a Path Forward
To fight this, we must understand the system. PNG operates as a regulated monopoly. They are the only company that can deliver natural gas through pipelines here, which is why their rates are supposed to be controlled by the B.C. Utilities Commission (BCUC) to protect the public.
Their profit is not made on the gas itself, but on the delivery charge—a fee set by the BCUC to cover their costs plus a guaranteed profit on their infrastructure. Because we cannot simply choose a new pipeline provider, we must demand accountability from the company and the system that regulates it. There are real solutions.
- Demand a Full Independent Audit. We must echo the call from our local leaders for a comprehensive, independent audit of PNG’s finances. Every claimed cost must be scrutinized, and every capital project must be justified before ratepayers are asked to fund it.
- Provincial Government Intervention. The North is not an island. If this infrastructure is essential to B.C., the province must share the burden. It is time for the government to explore a rate stabilization fund or other subsidies to ensure fair and equitable energy costs for all British Columbians.
- A Long-Term Vision for Energy Independence. This crisis must be a wake-up call. Our region’s future depends on reducing our reliance on a single provider. We need a serious, provincially-supported push towards energy diversification—investing in high-efficiency electric heat pumps and other renewable sources that give residents control over their energy costs.
The letters our councils are sending to the Premier are a demand for respect. The unified front they have formed is our line in the sand. It is time for the province to listen. The Northern Tax must end.
