Resolution No. 20 – 07M
Utility Costs for Recreation Facilities

WHEREAS there is a lot of promotional emphasis placed on encouraging people to move to rural Saskatchewan;

WHEREAS Saskatchewan Health is promoting healthy living in communities as being the lifestyle that we all want to achieve; and

WHEREAS communities in rural Saskatchewan are struggling to not only maintain current facilities, but also to pay the ever increasing power and energy bills;

BE IT RESOLVED that in order for rural Saskatchewan communities to be able to offer their residents an operational recreational facility, that SARM approach the Government of Saskatchewan to have power and natural gas rates for recreational facilities reduced; and

FURTHER BE IT RESOLVED that the Government of Saskatchewan offer a grant program to rural recreational facilities that would subsidize the power and natural gas costs.

Response from SaskPower

 ·        SaskPower receives numerous requests from various interest groups such as rink boards, civic authorities, figure skating clubs, and others with an interest in recreational activities for special treatment with regard to their rates.

·        SaskPower has consistently denied these requests on the basis that it is unfair to other non-profit, community or charity minded groups, and also to all classes of customers who must then pay more.

·        While SaskPower recognizes the financial challenges faced by recreational facilities throughout the Province, the electricity rate structure is designed to reflect a fair and balanced approach for all customer classes.

·        SaskPower encourages its customer to conduct an energy audit to identify cost savings that can be achieved through the efficient operation of equipment and appliances.

·        Grant and Loans for Energy Retrofits to Recreational Facilities, an attachment, included with this response contains a list of several financial assistance programs for energy efficiency improvements for commercial, institutional and municipal buildings.

BACKGROUND 

The increases in utility costs municipalities have been faced with are significant, and must be challenging for a smaller community to manage, as they are for many individuals and groups in Saskatchewan.  Unfortunately rising utility prices have been the norm throughout Canada and the United States.  SaskPower's cost, in particular fuel and purchased power costs continue to rise.  SaskPower is subject to the same commodity prices as the rest of North America and regrettably, has hda to implement rate increase over the past several years in order to pay for these commodities.

SaskPower has made efforts to apply a rate design philosophy under which all customers pay their fair share for the services provided.  Customer classes who, historically, have been doing the subsidizing, that is paying more than their fair share, continue to lobby SaskPower, Government officials, the Saskatchewan Rate Review panel and others to eliminate the subsidies as quickly as possible.  To this end, rate rebalancing initiatives are incorporated into SaskPower’s rate applications which include a plan to gradually eliminate subsidies to “special customers”.  The reduction of electrical charges for recreational facilities at this time would, in effect, introduce an additional subsidy, contrary to the fair and equitable treatment that SaskPower has been striving to attain for all of our customers.

While SaskPower recognizes the financila challenges faced by recreational facilities throughout the province, the electricity rate structure is designed to reflect a fair and balanced approach for all customer classes.  In an effort to reduce such costs, SaskPower encourages its customers to conduct an energy audit to identify cost savings that can be achieved through the efficient operation of equipment and appliances.  For instance, SaskPower has available on its website, www.saskpower.com, the Energy Management Manual for Arena and Rink Operators for free download.  The manual is a comprehensive guide to assist rink operators and community recreational boards manage the energy used in their facilities, as well as determine financial viability of energy efficiency and energy conservation improvements.  

The introduction of subsidized rates for Recreational Facilities would result in other customers (including Residential and Farm customers) having to pay more than the actual cost of their service or alternatively, lower SaskPower’s profitability and result in lower dividends paid to the shareholder. 

SaskPower is committed to providing reliable and affordable energy to the people of Saskatchewan, in the most fair and reasonable manner possible.  As such, SaskPower will continue to strive to provide affordable rates to all of their customers. 

Financial assistance for commercial, institutional and municipal buildings in Canada 

New Buildings
https://www.oee.nrcan.gc.ca/commercial/financial-assistance/new-buildings/index.cfm
Energy-efficient designs of new facilities may qualify for the Commercial Building Incentive Program (CBIP). 

Regional Incentives
Some utilities and provincial governments offer incentives and rebates that can be combined with Natural Resources Canada funding. 

For general information on the programs, services and publications of Environment Canada:
Inquiry Centre
70 Crémazie St.
Gatineau, Quebec
K1A 0H3
Telephone: 819-997-2800 or 1-800-668-6767Fax: 819-994-1412
TTY: 819-994-0736 (Teletype for the hearing impaired)
If your browser does not support fill-in forms, please email enviroinfo@ec.gc.ca 

Response from SaskEnergy

Doug Kelln
President and Chief Executive Officer