Utility Billing

Utilities

The City of Fernie supplies water, sewer and garbage collection services to properties within the municipal boundaries and water and garbage collection services to properties in West Fernie. To recover the costs associated with the provision of these services user fees are collected on a quarterly basis. Flat rates for these services are defined in the water, sewer or garbage rate schedules in the respective user fee bylaw. The rates vary depending on the type of user.

Due Dates

Quarterly utility bills are mailed to users in January, April, July and October. The due date for payment of the bills is the last day of the calendar quarter in which the bills are mailed out. For example, the bills sent out in January have a due date of March 31.

Penalties

If your payment is not received by the due date, a 5% penalty will be added to the balance owing for the quarterly billing. Any balance outstanding in your utility account at December 31 of any given year will be transferred to your property tax account as taxes in arrears in January 1 of the following year.

Discounts

The City of Fernie offers a 5% discount to residents who pay the FULL YEAR of utilities in advance by the last day of February. Discounts are not applied to quarterly payments. For more information about utility bill discounts, contact City Hall at (250) 423-6817.

Payments

The Pre-Authorized Payment Plan is an optional payment plan which provides an opportunity for property owners to make equal monthly payments for property taxes or utilities. Payments are made on the 15th of each month (or the next business day) by automatic debit from a bank account at any Canadian financial institution to your property tax or utility account.

Payments can also be made:

  • By online bill payment through your banking institution.
  • By cheque mailed to:

City of Fernie
501 3rd Avenue
Box 190
Fernie B.C.  V0B 1M0

  • By dropping a cheque through the mail slot at the front door of City Hall.
  • By cash, debit, or cheque at City Hall during business hours.
  • By OptionPay - Visa and MasterCard accepted. Please allow two to five business days for your payment to be received by the municipality. Note: there is a transaction fee that is charged by OptionPay (these fees are not received by the municipality).

All payments sent via mail, or online banking must be received by the due date noted on the utility bill to avoid the 5% late penalty.

Postmarks will not be considered as date of payment. Cheques post-dated to the due date are accepted.

Payments delivered to the City Hall mail slot will be processed the next business day. Payments will be considered late if dropped off after closing time on the due date.

New Property Owners / Address Change

Utility bills are sent to the address provided to the City by BC Assessment at the time the bills are produced. BC Assessment receives their property ownership and mailing address information from the BC Land Title Office. When ownership of a property changes it may take two to three months for BC Assessment to receive notice of the ownership change. During this time the utility bills may still be going the previous owner.

It is the responsibility of the property owner to ensure that the ownership and address information filed with the Land Title Office is current and correct. Any changes to the ownership of a property, including mailing address changes, should be filed with the BC Land Title Office at Suite 114 - 455 Columbia Street, Kamloops BC, V2C 6K4 and BC Assessment (Change of Address Form).

If you are not receiving your utility bills, please contact City Hall at (250) 423-6817 or email cityhall@fernie.ca. It is the responsibility of the property owner to pay the utility charges by the due date in order to avoid penalties. No exemption from payment or penalties is conferred by reason of non-receipt of the utility bill.

Utility Types

Water

Quarterly revenue generated from the collection of water user fees is maintained in the Water Fund and is used to pay for operating and capital expenditures specific to that fund. Monthly water user fee rates by classification of use are defined in the Water Connection and User Charge Bylaw No. 1594.

Sewer

The quarterly revenue generated from the collection of sewer user fees is maintained in the Sewer Fund and is used to pay for operating and capital expenditures specific to that fund. Monthly sewer user fee rates by classification of use are defined in the Sewer Connection and User Charge Bylaw No. 1593.

Garbage & Recycling

Quarterly garbage & recycling user fees are set to generate revenue sufficient to offset expenditures relating to the curbside collection of garbage and recycling. Monthly garbage user fee rates are defined in the Waste Regulation Bylaw [PDF - 58 KB].