The Cost Of Living Adjustment (COLA) on Bell Canada's pensions is based on the increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) over a 12 month period ending on October 31st of each year.
On November 16th, Statistics Canada released the CPI data for the last twelve months. According to Statistics Canada, the CPI rose 6.9% between October 2021 and October 2022 for Canada as a whole.
Based on this, the Cost of Living Adjustment on Bell Canada pensions should be 2% in 2023 for pensioners under 65 years of age and 4% for pensioners 65 years and over (60% of the CPI to a maximum of 4%). The increase will appear on the January pension payment.
As to the Bell Aliant pension plan, the indexation that will be provided on January 1st, 2023 is also based on the CPI results from October to October (please note that there is no indexation from TerraNovaTel (Part B) service). Their indexation formula is somewhat complex and we will simplify by saying that for pensioners under the age of 65, the indexation will be 2%. For pensioners 65 years and over, it varies between 2% and 4%, depending on the date of retirement and whether the pensioner was unionized or management.
As previously provided, BCE’s indexation is based on the CPI results from August to August, and adjusted on the pensions received in November. Based on the CPI (Consumer Price Index) results published by Stats Canada in September from August 2021 to August 2022 (7.0%), the indexation for the BCE pensioners for 2022-2023 should have been 2% for pensioners younger than 65 years of age and 4% (which is 60% of the CPI to a maximum of 4%) for pensioners 65 years of age and over. This was indeed reflected on the pension payments received in November.
And finally, Télébec's indexation is due in April 2023 and based on the RRQ (Régie des Rentes du Québec) indexation. Further details will follow in due time.