About 36,000 Saskatchewan residents who get their water through a provincially owned pipeline will be paying more beginning this spring.
SaskWater, the provincial crown corporation that delivers water to 72,000 Saskatchewan residents, has announced a two-year rate adjustment for customers receiving potable and non-potable water.
Most of those affected will see rates for potable water increase seven percent in May 2015 and another seven percent in May 2016.
A small number of customers near the community of Elbow will see rates increase nine percent this year and nine percent next year.
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Increases for customers that use non-potable water are set at one percent this year and one percent in 2016.
Scott Moe, the minister responsible for SaskWater, called the rate hike a “modest rate increase” needed to maintain existing infrastructure and expand SaskWater’s distribution system into new areas.
“This modest rate increase will assist SaskWater in addressing the costs associated with refurbishing aging infrastructure and expanding its systems to meet our growing population,” Moe said in a Feb. 5 news release.
“SaskWater customers have indicated they want safe and reliable water services, and today’s announcement ensures we can continue to meet those expectations.”
SaskWater is a wholesale water supplier.
It supplies water to community based water distributers, which ultimately determine how costs will be passed on to individual customers.
SaskWater estimates that the average impact to individual households receiving potable water will be $5.10 per month ($61 annually) in 2015 and $5.45 per month ($65.40 annually) in 2016, assuming that the full cost of the increase is passed on to end users.
Municipal customers affected by the 2015-16 multi-year rate adjustment include:
• Cities of Martensville and Warman.
• Villages of Bethune, Bradwell, Clavet, Disley, Elbow, Elstow, Hepburn, Marquis, Riverhurst, Tuxford, Vanscoy, Viscount and the Resort Village of Shields.
• Hamlet of Guernsey.
• Rural municipalities of Blucher, Colonsay, Corman Park, Dundurn, Rosedale and Vanscoy.
SaskWater president Doug Matthies said the rate hikes will boost revenues by more than $600,000 in 2015 and $1.1 million in 2016.
“Like any utility, costs go up over time … and a lot of the infrastructure that we’ve got was built 10 years or more ago, so there is a lot of refurbishment work that has to be done,” he said.
Matthies said SaskWater is planning to replace an older pipeline southeast of Saskatoon and expand infrastructure to keep up with rapid growth near Regina and Saskatoon, including the Martensville and Warman.
Fee hikes proposed by SaskWater are not scrutinized by a rate review panel, unlike other provincial crown corporations, but they do require cabinet approval.
Contact brian.cross@producer.com
