By Bryan Eneas

Northern residents decry high power costs

Mar 5, 2018 | 4:00 PM

Residents in Saskatchewan’s far north say their power bills are simply too high.

The already-high cost of living in the North is compounded by SaskPower bills, which some residents said can total thousands of dollars every month. Jonas Sha’oulle, who works at the community’s water treatment plant, said he requires help from the band to make his monthly payments. Hatchet Lake Denesuline Nation Chief Bart Tsannie confirmed the band does subsidize members who are struggling to meet the costs of keeping their lights on.

“When we can’t make up with our bills, we let them take care of it,” Sha’oulle said. “We got lots of bills to pay.”

Prince Albert Grand Council Vice Chief Joseph Tsannie said residents in Black Lake, Hatchet Lake and Fond Du Lac pay some of the highest power bills in the entire province.

“Probably 80 per cent of their paycheque goes to SaskPower, and what little is left, they have to pay the high grocery costs at stores,” Tsannie said. “When people are working, they work for SaskPower.”

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The community isn’t sitting back and coping with high costs of power, Tsannie said. Instead, he said residents are trying to “work with the system” and find other means of bringing power to the community. He suggested wind power as a viable option. Ultimately, Tsannie said, investments need to be made in the community to benefit the future generations.

“When SaskPower charges so much for the power bill that they’re serving the communities, it takes away from the young people,” Tsannie said. “It takes away the opportunities our young people could potentially have.”

High costs stem from consumption; SaskPower

SaskPower Spokesperson Jordan Jackle said northern residents pay the same price for power as the rest of the province, and the high bills paid by residents of Hatchet Lake stem from power consumption. The prevalence of electric heat due to a lack of natural gas infrastructure contributes to the costs, Jackle said, and colder, longer winters also mean residents are forced to use electric lighting more often than residents in the South.

Although some residents are left without power during the spring and summer in order to repay the bills which accumulated in the winter months, Jackle said SaskPower does not disconnect customers between Nov. 1 and March 31. If customers owe on their bill after March 31, he said an agreement for repayment is made, or the power is disconnected until their balance is paid.

“SaskPower takes disconnecting someone’s power very seriously,” Jackle said. “We do know winter is a special circumstance, especially in a place like Saskatchewan.”

Jackle recommended SaskPower customers facing heftly bills check the company’s website to find tools or ideas which would help them become more energy efficient and lower their costs, such as installing LED lighting. The Crown power company has met with local leaders and representatives of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations’ executive to discuss the high power costs in northern Saskatchewan.

Bryan.Eneas@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @BryanEneas