Following a decision by the provincial government, January 1st saw SaskEnergy and SaskPower stop collecting the federal carbon tax on home heating.
Statistics Canada data from 2021 showed that approximately 79 per cent of Saskatchewan homes used natural gas for home heat, with a further 19 per cent using electricity to heat their homes, amounting to 98 per cent of the province’s population.
Dustin Duncan, Crown Investments Corporation Minister with the Government of Saskatchewan, says that the federal carbon tax on residential customers’ SaskEnergy bills will no longer be collected, and that residential SaskPower customers who heat their homes with electricity will see the portion of their bill that relates to home heating be exempt from the tax – approximately 60 per cent of a SaskPower bill during the winter.
“This is going to provide about $400 [per year] for the average SaskEnergy customer, and about $20 per month for SaskPower customers who use electricity to generate their home heat.”
While they believe they have identified customers using electricity for home heating, Duncan says to contact SaskPower if you do not see the appropriate credit. Customers may see a charge for carbon tax on their January bills based on their billing cycles, as usage that occurred in December is still subject to the charge.
Duncan does not believe that the removal of the federal carbon tax from home heating in Saskatchewan should impact what people receive for carbon tax rebates. “It shouldn’t. Ultimately, that’s the federal government’s decision in terms of how the rebates are administered and distributed.”
“We know that the parliamentary budget office in Ottawa has indicated that for the average Saskatchewan family, they’re actually paying $600 more in carbon tax than they’re receiving back from the rebates.”
Duncan adds that there was no decrease in rebates when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a carbon tax exemption for home heating oil, which impacted mainly Atlantic Canadians, and that the rural rebate component of the carbon tax was also raised from 10 to 20 per cent.
“We want that same carbon tax exemption, and what the federal government has done in terms of keeping in place the rebate for those individuals, despite not charging the carbon tax – that fairness should be extended to people in Saskatchewan as well.”