Saskatchewan NDP responds to Crown corporation annual reports

SaskPower reported a major hit to its finances in the Crown corporation’s annual report on Wednesday.

It showed a net income of $11 million, down significantly from $160 million in the previous year. The company’s financial health could affect people’s power bill.

SaskPower has asked the Saskatchewan Rate Review Panel for average rate increases of four per cent starting Sept. 1 and four per cent as of April 1. The panel is expected to deliver its response this month.

Opposition Leader Carla Beck and SaskPower Critic Aleana Young called on the government Wednesday to scrap the proposed eight per cent utility rate hike, saying families are already struggling enough.

“Now is certainly not the time to increase people’s power bills by eight per cent,” Beck said. “It’s the last thing that we should be doing when people are struggling to fill their tanks, or trying to make ends meet because of the crushing cost of living.”

The Saskatchewan Industrial Energy Consumer Association called the increase “extremely aggressive” and “triggers concerns about competitiveness.”

“Families and businesses are stretched to breaking point by food and gas prices and record high power bills,” said Young. “The Alberta government is already on its second round of affordability relief. Meanwhile, (Saskatchewan Premier) Scott Moe is raising taxes, raising power rates and driving away industry.”

The Official Opposition called on the government to stop the latest rate hike and provide immediate relief to the many families and businesses left behind by the affordability crisis.

Young also stressed the importance of SaskPower diversifying its sources of energy moving forward, to reduce the stress on the average consumer.

“This is why it’s important for SaskPower to have a diversified fleet of power generation,” she said. “We’re going to have years with droughts, we’re going to have years with floods, we’re going to have real cold winters as we saw this year being colder than usual and we’re going to have really hot summers.

“It is critical that we get this energy production mixed right for the province.”

In 2021-22, SaskPower did a lot of work on expanding its power capacity from renewable resources – the first-ever utility-scale solar project in the province came on line, the largest wind generation facility was commissioned, and competition was announced for the next-largest solar facility.