Oct 2, 2007

SASKENERGY RATE DECREASE APPROVED

The Provincial Government has approved an average 5.7 per cent decrease for SaskEnergy’s commodity rate for natural gas, effective November 1, 2007. The decrease will mean a savings of about $66 a year for the average residential customer. The decrease was recommended by the Saskatchewan Rate Review Panel in its recent report to Government.

“This is very good news for SaskEnergy’s customers in Saskatchewan, especially with winter approaching,” Crown Investments Corporation Minister Judy Junor said. “Customers will appreciate that SaskEnergy is passing along the savings from market prices that are continuing to decline. Besides saving the average residential customer about $66 per year, this decrease will result in annual savings of about $89 for farm customers, $248 for strip malls and rinks, and $4,385 for schools, hospitals, nursing homes and large shopping malls.”

SaskEnergy’s commodity rate represents the cost of purchasing customers’ natural gas on the open market. SaskEnergy does not mark up this price, but sells it to customers at cost. The commodity rate of $7.17 per Gigajoule (GJ) has been in effect since November 1, 2006. On August 30, 2007, SaskEnergy applied for a decrease to $6.93 per GJ. On September 19, the corporation revised its request to $6.57 per GJ.

“We commend SaskEnergy for revising its request to the Panel so it can pass along further savings to Saskatchewan customers,” Junor said. “The corporation continues to work hard to ensure that Saskatchewan people pay among the lowest costs in the country for natural gas.”

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