Saskatchewan’s electrical and natural gas utilities have both asked for rate changes.
SaskPower wants an increase while SaskEnergy wants a net decrease, the utilities announced May 20.
Both companies will apply to the Saskatchewan Rate Review Panel separately but said doing so simultaneously allows customers to budget.
SaskPower will ask for a five percent increase as of July 1 and another five percent Jan. 1, 2017. This would result in an average residential hike of $6 per month each time.
For farms, the average increase would be $12 each month.
SaskEnergy is proposing changes to both its commodity and delivery service rates.
If approved, the commodity rate would drop by 14 percent to $3.65 per gigajoule, the lowest rate in 16 years.
The delivery service rate would increase by 8.6 percent, or about $3.50 per month, for residential customers. Farms are considered the same as residential homes.
Overall, customers would save about $1.70 per month.
Coupled with the SaskPower increase, the net residential increase is about $4.30 and the farm increase about $10.30.
karen.briere@producer.com
