Powering Life in Rural Alberta

The Alberta government is helping rural Albertans access essential services like gas, electricity, and water to grow their local economies, by allocating funds in the 2025 budget for the Rural Utilities Program and the Remote Area Heating Allowance.

The budget provides $8.5 million for the Rural Utilities Program – which consists of the Rural Electric Program, Rural Gas Program, and Rural Water Program – and the Remote Area Heating Allowance. This will help communities access critical services like gas, power and water, as well as deliver direct financial relief to thousands of rural Albertans facing high utility bills so that they can continue their vital work.

Rural and remote Albertans play a crucial role in the province’s prosperity, from feeding the world to producing raw materials and adding to Alberta’s vibrant cultural landscape. They also face unique challenges when it comes to accessing affordable utilities and heating costs.

A total of $700,000 is allocated to the Rural Electric Program, while $5.7 million has been allocated to the Natural Gas Program. For those who are unable to access the natural gas system, Budget 2025 also commits $1.6 million for the Remote Area Heating Allowance program.

Rural Electric Program

The Rural Electric Program (REP) grant helps farmers access a basic, essential service at a reasonable cost and aids in the diversification of our rural economy. 

The REP grant program is available to individual producers and is administered through the Alberta Federation of Rural Electrification Associations.

All Alberta producers who are actively farming where the service is being used in conjunction with their farming operation are eligible to apply for grant assistance under the Rural Electric Grant Program.

The Rural Electric Grant Program runs from April 1 to March 31 each year. The approval of any application is subject to the availability of funds. Eligible producers must make an application to the Alberta Federation of Rural Electrification Associations (AFREA).

Rural Gas Program

The Federation of Alberta Gas Co-ops Ltd. is the administrative organization for Alberta’s Rural Gas Grant Program. Through this program, all eligible rural gas utilities can apply for grant funding to offset the cost of constructing new rural agricultural and domestic services as well as some capital improvements to provide greater system efficiencies.

Rural Water Program

The Water Program supports agricultural water management by helping primary producers adopt agriculture water better management practices and priority actions. This supports better management of risks to water quality and supplies, adaptation to climate variability and the efficient use of water resources.

An applicant may apply to one or both of the program streams:

• On-Farm Irrigation Stream
• On-Farm Water Supply Stream

Remote Area Heating Allowance

The Remote Area Heating Allowance reduces the cost of heating fuels for Albertans who do not have access to natural gas service in their area.

If your primary residence is outside the franchise boundaries of a natural gas distributor, you may be eligible for a rebate on heating oil and/or propane purchases. If natural gas service extends to your location in the future, your eligibility for heating oil/propane rebates terminates, regardless of whether you choose to receive natural gas services from the local distributor.

The program provides direct rebates to Albertans of up to 25% of the cost of fuel (less GST and carbon levy) on annual consumption of up to:

• 18,185 litres (4,000 gallons) of propane,
• or 12,275 litres (2,800 gallons) of heating oil,
• or a proportionate combination of both.

For more information on any of these programs, please visit alberta.ca