British Columbians impacted by fires and floods this year will get a break on their energy bills.

FortisBC announced Thursday that anyone who was under an evacuation order due to the disasters that gripped the province for months will not be charged for energy used while they were not at their homes.

"We felt that given customers were forced from their homes and unable to use the energy during that time, giving them a bill credit was the right thing to do," Fortis's vice president of customer service, Dawn Mehrer, told Radio West host Sarah Penton.

"It's a small token of something we can do to assist them."

In a statement, the gas and electricity utility said 2,623 of its customers were under evacuation orders this year and will receive a credit. Credits will not be given to those under evacuation alerts but customers could contact the company and discuss the situation with them.

Hehrer said Fortis would send the credits out automatically and customers do not need to apply for them.

Similar to BC Hydro
Several weeks ago, BC Hydro announced it would be providing similar credits to its customers who were ordered to leave their homes.

It also announced it would waive all charges from the last bill for customers who lost their homes because of wildfires.

A FortisBC spokesperson would not commit to matching that offer but said the company was "committed to working with each customer on an individual basis."

"Each customer situation is different. If they give us a call, we can work something out that works for them and works for us," Mehrer added.

Mehrer also explained that FortisBC is offering the rebate in October, several weeks after BC Hydro offered its rebate because of a process that had to be worked through with the B.C. Utilities Commission.

Record-breaking year
The move to offer the rebate was praised by the British Columbia Economic Development Association.

"This demonstrates a high level of corporate responsibility and support for those in need," Dale Wheeldon, president and CEO of the association said. "The BCEDA Economic Disaster Recovery Program could not do the work it does without the incredible support offered by FortisBC."

The 2018 B.C. wildfire season was the worst on record in terms of square kilometres of land burned. It beat out the 2017 season, which was formerly the record holder. Over 3,000 people were under evacuation order at one time or another this year.

Many scientists believe human-caused climate change is a factor increasing the severity of wildfires in North America.