Thursday SaskEnergy will apply to the Saskatchewan Rate Review Panel (SRRP) for a 22.1 per cent decrease in the commodity rate for natural gas. That would drop it from $4.20 to $3.30 per gigajoule. At the same time, SaskEnergy will also bring forward a proposal for the SRRP to consider a five per cent delivery service rate increase.

The adjustment to commodity and delivery service rates will work out to an overall decrease in the monthly bill of $5.66 a month or $68 per year for the average residential customer.

Minister Responsible for SaskEnergy Don Morgan says the request for a change to the commodity rate is thanks to a drop in market price of natural gas.

If approved, the overall bill decrease will take effect on October 1, 2023.

In a news release the Government of Saskatchewan explains SaskEnergy’s two rates pointing out that SaskEnergy passes the cost to buy natural gas from the market on to customers, with no profit earned or loss incurred by SaskEnergy.  The cost is incurred in making sure SaskEnergy continues to invest in the system which delivers natural gas to customers hence a delivery rate.

To avoid volatile swings in price in the marketplace, on the commodity side, SaskEnergy uses a hedging strategy that locks in the commodity price of natural gas for purchase in the future.

Meanwhile, the Saskatchewan NDP criticized the timing and amount of the Sask Party Government’s plan to decrease SaskEnergy bills for its customers in the province. After being officially nominated to run on behalf of the New Democrats in the Saskatoon-Nutana constituency, Opposition SaskEnergy Critic Erika Ritchie released a statement Wednesday saying the NDP have been calling on the Sask Party government to scrap their rate hikes to energy bills for months, adding, “When families are already paying an average of $200.25 a month just to heat their homes and keep the lights on, a decrease of $5.66 goes nowhere near far enough.”