The Alberta government has proposed legislation aimed at better protecting Albertans, by providing support to help consumers dealing with water bill disputes.

The province has proposed An Act to Empower Utility Consumers. If passed, the legislation would expand the mandate for Alberta’s Utilities Consumer Advocate (UCA).

At this time, the UCA mediates disputes over electricity and natural gas bills – the new legislation would expand their role to include water, sewer and drainage.

The legislation comes after a number of Fort Saskatchewan residents reported issues with their water bills in the last four years – in some cases, homeowners reported receiving huge water bills.

Trina Okimaw-Scott said she was away from her home for three weeks in the summer of 2017, when water usage at her house somehow climbed.

Since 2014, she said she’s received three astronomical water bills – but when she contacted the city over it, she was told the bills are accurate. The city suggested a leak could be to blame for the spike.

“One bill will be normal, another one will be extremely high, then it’s back to normal again,” Okimaw-Scott said. “If it was a leak, it would stay the same, it would be consistently high.”

She was told to pay her $470 bill, or her water would be turned off.

“I had to decide between paying my water bill and putting my daughter in dance class, obviously water was the necessary choice,” Okimaw-Scott said.

“These shouldn’t be happening for an essential service.”

The province said the UCA already receives calls over disputes involving those three utilities – but most of those calls have to be sent back to the municipality or water provider.

“We’re actually going to be doing the research and compiling statistics on what types of issues there are, and where those issues are occurring, so that we can present that information to the companies themselves and to regulators if necessary,” Chris Hunt with UCA said.

The UCA would work with the municipality to negotiate payment plans, and possibly determine the cause of a spike in billing.

However, the UCA doesn’t have the power to enforce any action – because municipalities regulate water utilities in Alberta – the organization can only recommend the city check meters in certain homes.

However, if the UCA finds the municipality isn’t cooperating, the province could step in, as a last resort.

With files from Shanelle Kaul