By Collin Gallant on January 4, 2017.

The price of natural gas heating in Medicine Hat will rise in January by nearly $1 per gigajoule Ã‘ an increase that doesnt yet include the provincial Carbon Levy. Rates posted Tuesday by the citys utility department show the commodity rate for gas increasing to $3.48 per gigajoule -- an increase of 98-cents over the price in December. --NEWS PHOTO EMMA BENNETT The price of natural gas heating in Medicine Hat will rise in January by nearly $1 per gigajoule Ã‘ an increase that doesnt yet include the provincial Carbon Levy. Rates posted Tuesday by the citys utility department show the commodity rate for gas increasing to $3.48 per gigajoule -- an increase of 98-cents over the price in December. --NEWS PHOTO EMMA BENNETT

Medicine Hat News

The price of natural gas heating in Medicine Hat will rise in January by nearly $1 per gigajoule â€” an increase that doesn’t yet include the provincial Carbon Levy.

Rates posted Tuesday by the city’s utility department show the commodity rate for gas increasing to $3.48 per gigajoule, an increase of 98-cents over the price in December.

The new levy, which came into effect on January 1, will add another $1.011 per gigajoule that will appear as a separate charge on utility bills.

Local officials say that the levy has not been factored into the City of Medicine Hat’s basic rate-setting formula. The bare cost of the commodity in other areas is used to determine the average price in the province.

Rates across Alberta are set to rise as cold weather set in.

The highest bare commodity price in Alberta is $3.745 per gigajoule is offered by AltaGas. Direct Energy’s regulated rate was the provincial low of $3.086.

The price of electricity in the first month of 2017 will increase as well.

Residential and small-to-medium-sized commerical power customers will be charged 4.27-cents per kilowatt hour this month, up slightly from 4.15-cents last month.

For January, six of ten rates charged in centres across Alberta are above the local cost. The Enmax default rate in Red Deer was the highest at 4.481-cents. The City of Lethbridge, at 3.944-cents, was the lowest.