It is a lower increase than originally planned, but SaskPower customers will still be seeing increases to their power bills come March 1.
According to a Saskatchewan Government press release, the Saskatchewan Rate Review Panel recommended a drop from a five per cent increase to a 3.5 per cent increase which the Saskatchewan government accepted going forward.
The release said that would equate to a $4 jump on consumer bills.
The press release said the increase will mean more investments into, “major maintenance and growth projects to reduce the number and duration of power outages; modernize the power grid; meet the growing demand for more power; and help SaskPower reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent from 2005 levels, by 2030.”
“(SaskPower) faces an important challenge to maintain and grow our power grid. With their revised fiscal forecasts during the rate review period, government agrees with the Rate Review Panel that SaskPower can meet this challenge in 2018 with a lower increase,” said Minister Responsible for SaskPower Dustin Duncan in the press release.
SaskPower President and CEO Mike Marsh knows this is a balance act between keeping costs down to consumers while also having money to invest. He said in the release that SaskPower will play their part, “optimizing our processes, reducing administrative costs and we plan to reduce this spending.”
“This 3.5 per cent will allow us to continue investing in the grid and we will investigate additional ways to save money to compensate for this lower-than-planned increase.”
