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Some Albertans say they are having problems applying for a $100 energy rebate after the Alberta government launched the rebate portal last week.<\/p>\n
The provincial government announced last month that Albertans would be able to apply for the rebate in order to help deal with the high cost of living. <\/p>\n
As of Tuesday, the provincial government said nearly 330,000 Albertans have successfully signed up for the rebate. However, some Albertans who are still struggling to sign up tell CBC News they feel unsupported in the process.<\/p>\n
Susan Carter, a 73-year-old woman who lives in Leduc, said her bank is ATB Financial, which was not listed as an option on the portal’s bank verification page.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The alternative option to using bank verification through Interac is to use document verification instead. Carter said she cannot afford a cellphone, and as a result is unable to take a selfie for verification.<\/p>\n
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ATB Financial told CBC it was not among the listed banks because the company uses a different \u201csecure verification provider\u201d to the Interac verification service used by the Alberta energy rebate portal. (Submitted by Julie Hodd)<\/p>\n
Carter said other people she\u2019s spoken with have had similar difficulties in accessing the rebate. She said her 76-year-old husband hoped the rebate would help him get new boots.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey’ve just let it ride,\u201d Carter said of her friends who find the process challenging. \u201cYou just don\u2019t get the $100.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe underlying issue here is the fact that people who actually need the money aren’t going to be able to get it.”<\/p>\n
Julie Hodd also said she had difficulty registering for the rebate. Like Carter, Hodd noted the absence of ATB from the list of banking options, and also the absence of Servus Credit Union. <\/p>\n
She said she has spoken with other people who say they have also had problems registering for the rebate. Hodd said the experience has left them distrustful towards the provincial government.<\/p>\n
\u201cApplying for the affordability rebates should be simple and applying for the affordability rebate should be accessible,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Government acknowledges rebate ‘frustration’<\/p>\n
In a statement to CBC News, Jonathan Gauthier, the press secretary for Technology and Innovation Minister Nate Glubish, said the province is aware some Albertans are experiencing delays when applying for the energy rebate.<\/p>\n
\u201cBank verification through Interac is available to any Canadian bank that chooses to participate,” the statement said. “Not all banks currently offer this service to their customers; anyone whose bank does not participate can use document verification instead.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe recognize this step has been a source of frustration for some applicants.\u201d<\/p>\n
An ATB Financial spokesperson told CBC News that the bank was not among those listed because it uses a different \u201csecure verification provider\u201d instead of the Interac verification service used by the Alberta energy rebate portal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The spokesperson said eligible ATB Financial clients can receive their Alberta energy rebate via electronic transfer by following the portal’s secure document verification process.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In a statement to CBC News, Juliana Rodriguez, press secretary for Finance Minister Jason Nixon, said Albertans can get help with applying for the rebate from family or trusted friends. She said people with limited computer access can also use their local public library or visit an Alberta Supports Centre.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Digital expert weighs in<\/p>\n
Joel Magalnick, an instructor in digital experience design at MacEwan University, said he found that applying for the rebate required more information than he expected.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of the qualification questions I just found a little bit off-putting,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou need to put in some pretty specific personal information. If I wasn’t sure that this was the alberta.ca site, I might be a little bit nervous.\u201d<\/p>\n
Magalnick said parts of the portal are \u201creasonably\u201d accessible for people with visual impairments. However, he said he believes there should be other options for people who are struggling with technology. <\/p>\n
\u201cI can see where people might get a little bit upset that they have to go through this rigmarole for just $100,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI also don\u2019t want to dismiss that $100, for a number of people in our province … is kind of a big deal. It makes the difference between having food on the table for a couple of nights or not.\u201d<\/p>\n
Albertans have until Sept. 30 to apply for the rebate.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":790234,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,49,48],"class_list":["post-790233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=790233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/790234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=790233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=790233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=790233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}