SaskPower keeps carbon tax rate steady for 2022

SaskPower is giving its customers a break on the federal carbon tax.

In a media release Wednesday, the Crown corporation announced its customers will pay the same carbon tax rate as they did in 2021 — even though the tax is slated to increase from $40 per tonne to $50 per tonne on Jan. 1.

“SaskPower is working hard to reduce its carbon emissions while keeping rates as low as possible,” Don Morgan, Saskatchewan’s minister responsible for SaskPower, said in the release.

“Because of reduced emissions from coal generation, the addition of more than 400 megawatts of wind, solar, and biomass, as well as an improved outlook on hydro generation, SaskPower is able to avoid passing Federal Carbon Tax rate increases on to customers in 2022.”

To meet its goal of reducing CO2 emissions by 50 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030 — and with a goal of reaching net zero by 2050 — SaskPower plans to continue adding what it called “renewable power generation capacity” in future years.

By doing so, SaskPower can limit the impact of the carbon tax on Saskatchewan residents.

The carbon tax initially was set at $20 per tonne on Jan. 1, 2019, with $10-per-tonne increases for the subsequent three years. It’s to increase by $15 per tonne starting in 2023.

The Saskatchewan government challenged the constitutionality of the tax in court, but the Supreme Court of Canada nixed that challenge.

SaskPower said it applies a rate rider that is revised every Jan. 1 to get an estimate of the carbon tax for the upcoming year.

“At the end of the year SaskPower calculates the actual carbon tax payment that we are required to remit to the federal government,” the Crown said in the release. “Any difference between the amount collected and the payment due to the federal government is factored into the following year’s rate rider.”