SaskPower & SaskEnergy to Lower or Subsidize Costs for Rural Residential Service Connections
Res #: 16-24M
Number: 16
Year: 2024
Midterm: Yes
Expired: No
Responses Received: Yes
Departments: SaskPower, SaskEnergy
WHEREAS the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation has determined that there is a housing crisis/shortage in Canada.
WHEREAS municipalities across Canada have been encouraged to promote residential development through changes to policy and by accessing provincial/federal grant funding created to help solve the housing shortage.
WHEREAS individuals in rural Saskatchewan who receive all required permits for residential development from their municipalities are required to work with SaskPower and/or SaskEnergy to coordinate new service connections for their new homes.
WHEREAS the costs for these potential developers/homeowners to provide/install power and gas services to new rural residences in Saskatchewan is often cost prohibitive and detrimental to needed residential development.
BE IT RESOLVED that SARM lobby SaskPower and SaskEnergy to subsidize or lower the costs for service connections to new rural residences until the housing crisis/shortage in Canada has been resolved.
Responses From: SaskPower and SaskEnergy
February 26, 2025
SaskPower offers a subsidy of $1,300 towards the cost of any new permanent single-phase rural facility such as a house, farm or acreage. For more information on this subsidy and other electric service facilities investments for farm service, please visit:
Thank you for all of the important work that SARM does to represent rural Saskatchewan, and I appreciate the opportunity to respond to these most recent resolutions.
Hon. Jeremy Harrison – Minister Responsible for SaskPower
February 26, 2025
I understand the Resolution 16-24M that was passed at the Convention on November 20, 2024, is for SaskEnergy to consider how it can subsidize or lower the costs for service connections to new rural residences.
Every natural gas service quote is unique and can require road, rail, utility, and/or waterbody crossings, additional easements and approvals, and environmental and heritage surveys. These requirements can impact a project’s cost.
If SaskEnergy were to carry the debt on behalf of all new service connections for remote and rural locations, customers across Saskatchewan could see an increase in natural gas bills over the next 20 years, as those costs incurred would be borne by SaskEnergy’s full customer base.
To reduce customer contributions for new service applications, SaskEnergy applies an appropriate level of utility investment based on the customer’s load, duration of use and lifetime of the gas requirement.
In 2024, SaskEnergy invested about $992,000 in rural customer requests (both residential and commercial). More than 50 per cent of which was dedicated to rural residential customer requests, including houses and farm shops. That was an average investment of $2,400 per request.
Our government remains committed to providing the people and businesses of Saskatchewan with access to safe, reliable, and affordable sources of energy. I’d like to thank you for taking the time to share your concerns, and I hope you have found this information helpful.
Hon. Jeremy Harrison – Minister Responsible for SaskEnergy
