SaskPower

I disagree with an 8% increase. The people of this province already pay so much for everything else. Income has not increased. Crown corporation is supposed to have the extra to sustain through tough times. If they are not being managed that way. Then someone is doing the wrong job

I am opposed to the 8% increase.

People of Saskatchewan are being plagued with a number of Crown Corporation bills at a time when wages are not going up and theist of living for food and housing is sky-rocketing. People can choose alternatives to SaskTel for internet and television services, but they have no option for SaskPower. If the province can get onboard and encourage renewable resources, it is possible that the demand for service from SaskEnergy will fall and SaskPower will rise on top of any hike of the proposed 8%. This is unconscionable.

I'm opposed to raising SaskPower rates. Families are already struggling with the cost of living & inflation increasing this.

I am very opposed to, and daunted by the proposed 4 + 4 % rate hikes for SaskPower consumers. Many of us are struggling to pay our bills as it is with job losses, increased medical issues, the stagnation of wages and intense spikes in basic food costs, not to mention prohibitive fuel costs. We need relief from all of this. I have not been able to use my stove for the past month because of a load-limiter placed on the electricity meter. This is demoralizing and squeezes folks who are sinking further into debt and have nothing more to give. I respectfully ask that the Panel consider if thisis the only way that the government can reach to goals it states as reasons for this untimely and inappropriately high rate increase.

I am opposed to the proposed 8% rate raise at this time.

A rate increase while many people, people on Social Assistance, Minimum wage and part time workers, and seniors are recovering to the best of their abilities from the difficult time our province has had with Covid is a poor decision. Don't increase the rates.

I oppose any rate increases while the cost of living continues to rise so steadily and the government benefits from high oil prices. Our provincial government should be shouldering this burden.

While there is no doubt that SP needs the revenue I think it should be relieved of the $48M dividend it's expected to return to the Sask Gov't. I also am not convinced that chasing SMR's is a reasonable endeavour. Why not weight until they are proven? Rethink the proposal.

Our power bill already runs at $500 per month or more and that far too large a portion of our income. An increase is not acceptable.

I am strongly opposed to an 8% increase in the next calendar year (4% in October, 4% in April) for Sask Power, especially when they are making large profits and the government continues to draw dividends.

I appreciate the services SaskPower are offering us here on the farm and strongly support retaining all aspects of this public utility in the public domain (no privatization!) I do not support any rate increases unless such added revenues are committed to enhancing renewable energy initiatives such as solar and wind power.

Contract workers are moving power lines into road allowances at a time when increased resilience of infrastructure is needed. A rate increase of 8% over the next year is much too large when cosmetic changes to the grid are taking place.

I would like to comment on the proposed rate increases for SaskPower in the coming years. Given the increase in cost of living, this significant of an increase has real budget implications for many Saskatchewan families. If our public programs (such as health and education) are only providing employees with 1-2% annual raises, as well as Saskatchewan having the lowest minimum wage in the country , increasing rates by 8% far outstrips the abilities of many families to be able to comfortably pay their power bill.

As a farm customer, we have been faced with 14 approved rate increases since 2007. This has impacted housing, aerating grain, pumping water etc. Natural gas was not available in 1978 when we built our house, so we installed baseboard heating. At that time our annual bill was $800.00 for a 1,448 sq. foot energy efficient house. (To switch to natural gas now would cost over $35,000.00.) Our demand normally is around 21,000 kwh. Last year demand was 23,217 kwh, costing $3,698.00. (A separate transformer and meter picks up the farm related demand for power.) These constant increases are affecting our community facilities, which we pay for through taxes, donations and volunteer labour. Is the millions of dollars Sask Power spent installing power to Sag-D oil plants part of the reason for these constant increases? Is this a direct subsidy to the oil industry? I realize maintenance and upgrading line capacity are required, but rural customers are impacted more than urban by increased rates. We would like to install solar power to reduce reliance on the grid. However, Sask Power is doing everything to discourage this. Apparently, users have been notified the net metering rate may be reduced even further to .05 or .03/kwh. Solar power added by customers would help Sask Power reduce their stated objective of reducing Green Gas Emissions by 40% from 2005 levels by 2030, as well as reduce reliance on imported power. Excessive rates are also quoted for moving hazardous lines of poles 45’ into the field from the road allowance on two quarters of my land. Each year there are 100’s of contacts with farm machinery in Saskatchewan. Underground lines seem to be off the table. What priority does this program have? I trust the government will give consideration to the impact on rural communities when considering Sask Power’s request for 2 to 4% increases.

I could support an 8% increase if I knew that this was a surcharge for specific projects - something like a transmission line to bring Manitoba electricity into the province or for other power grade upgrades. Currently I fear this extra revenue will end up in the General Revenue Fund and is just another form of taxation.

Instead of increasing our rates by 8%, SaskPower should turn away from coal and oil and oil and gas. Quit increasing prices on ordinary people (on fixed incomes, like me!) to pay for the government's bad choices and bad energy policy.

I do not believe that there should be a rate hike at this time, while the government continues to draw dividends. This is not the time as everything else is costing much more.

I do not agree with the proposed rate increases. As the govt is still drawing dividends, there is no need. Plus it seems unnecessarily punitive to increase any Crown Corp's rates in a time of 6.7 percent increase (and with diesel costs not even reflected in the CPI). I beg SK Power to realise that residents have been hit hard enough and are struggling in wave 6and standing on the precipice of a potential major international conflict.

I am highly opposed to this rate increase (8% within the next year). I would like to know exactly why this increase is happening in such a volatile market where costs could go down in the interim. With everything increasing for consumers as it is, why add higher electricity bills on top of it with no alternative for customers.

A year or two ago we had a collective letter sent to the government arguing that the lease rates around Tobin Lake were unrealistic and not representative of the productive capabilities of the land. Working with the lease rate, as well as the taxes we had to pay (normally landowner pays taxes) the average lease rate worked out anywhere from 5 to 15 an acre more than privately owned, more productive land. That was in 2020, and in 2021. From 2021 to 2022 we are looking at a 24% increase to our rate on our farm that was already wildly out of touch before it. Our argument was that the lease formula used is pulling data from way too big of an area. It's pulling data from as far south as quill lake, west to Wakaw, and east to Manitoba border. We are the northern border. Farming around Tobin lake is vastly different than South of carrot river, or around Nipawin let alone 100s of kilometers. Please review these rates, and the area the lease formula is pulling from. We have farmed these lands for generations, many of the quarters were homestead quarters of family farms today. Please don't price us out of farming homesteaded land, and keep it comparable to privately rented land rates in our area.

I am opposed to the proposed rate hike at SaskPower for many reasons but the prime one is that it is such an eroumous hike at a time when inflation is eating into our pensions amd our cost of living. We have the embarrassing fact of the lowest minimum wage in Canada. This rate hike is going to make it ever harder for low income people. Shame!

Last month's power bill was $340. I am a single mother of 4 children who live at home. How in the world am I suppose to afford an 8% increase?!! I shouldn't have to choose paying power or buying groceries! This is SHAMEFUL!

At this time when utilities are already very high when it is a service we cannot do without when the price of everything else is already to high i dont think another increase at this time is needed people are reaching the breaking point

The rate increase of 8% proposed for power rates in the coming year is wholly unreasonable, in my view, and likely also the view of many people who are struggling with record-high inflation now. Furthermore, it is actually ABOVE the noted high inflation rate.

An 8% rate hike is unfair and unnecessary, why is this the plan you are moving ahead with? Who wants an 8% rate hike? What is it that this rate hike will fund that the dividends the government has decided are more valuable than the actual SK rate payers? Please rethink this proposal.

I am extremely disappointed in the decision to increase power usage rates in the province when alternatives to create their own are actively prevented. As a citizen I will be looking at relocating to another province if this is implemented.

There is no part of me that wants a rate increase for the current power system. Our lights flicker on almost a weekly basis, we lose power 10-12 times a year. Without changes to the current system and the addition of renewable energy sources, I don't know how a rate increase can be justified.

The Saskatchewan government is drawing dividends regularly and I am expected to pay 8% more next year for power. That proposal is unacceptable.

The rate increase saskpower is proposing is going to make it so much harder for Saskatchewan resistance. Everyone is still reeling from all the covid lay offs, time off to quarantine, and days off to take care of their children. This increase is going to put some in a position where they choose power or food and that's not ok. With all the talk of another carbon tax increase causing gas and other costs to sky rocket, plus inflation. How is a Canadian supposed to live? This increase is poorly timed and is going to make it so hard for families to survive in this time

I would like to take a moment to express my concerns of yet another price increase for Canadians. I am the mother of 2 children ages 6 & 7. My husband and I work HARD to provide them with everything they need. My husband works out of our hometown to support us and in that we sacrifice family time and our relationship as a couple. He does this to try and provide a better life for us but as of late it’s mostly just to keep a roof over our head and the lights on with no extra. It may only be $11-12 but that’s extra on top of bills we already struggle to pay. We already pay high distribution fees, taxes, and what ever other fees they deem “necessary” we are scraping to get by and provide our kids with what I consider to be the basics of living in Canada where it can get to minus 40-50 Celsius. Power, heat, food and a home. The world is getting very unpredictable and the costs of living are astronomical. Stop dollaring everyone to death for greed. So, in conclusion what I am trying to get across is stop raising bills and fees for companies already making millions and overpaying their employees to do basic brainless jobs and let the people that work hard keep their money for their kids, lives and futures.

I would like to say I disagree with the rate increase, with all the increases on food and gas and other materials it is hard to anyone to make ends meet. Many small businesses are struggling with all the increases on everything plus the carbon tax, this will be another nail in our coffin.

The people of Saskatchewan already pay one of the highest power rates in Canada at .14228 per kw, this rate increase should be denied…… if they hadn’t wasted a billion on a line from Island Falls to Key Lake……. They wasted another 1/2 billion on the carbon sequestration at shand when it should have been converted to natural gas, now the feds are ordering a phase out of coal ……. Not to mention the huge money wasted on their smart meter program because of poor standardization methods…… all this money should have gone to rebuild aging infrastructure….. DENY THIS RATE INCREASE