By Katie Ryan

Saskatchewan residents will be paying more for power.
As of Aug. 1 power bills will jump in price by $5 to $10 a month – which adds up to an additional $60 to $120 a year in total –  thanks to a 4.5 per cent system average rate increase.
On Thursday the Saskatchewan Party government announced it had accepted the recommendation of the Saskatchewan Rate Review Panel, which gave SaskPower the green light to raise the rates.
Originally SaskPower asked for an average increase of seven per cent in February, citing rising fuel prices and capital investments needs.
While the hike in price is less than first requested, the NDP said it’s bad news for consumers and are calling on the “Wall government” to roll back prices to the rate of inflation.
“This is mainly as a way to help out hard pressed farmers seeing their income drop significantly because of world grain prices and then with the flooding on top of that,” said opposition leader Dwain Lingenfelter Friday, in an interview with the Source.
“What we are calling on is a roll back from the rate increase that the Wall government has imposed on farmers of 17 per cent over the last two years to the rate of inflation which would roll it back to about three per cent.”
According to Rob Norris, appointed SaskPower minister in the last cabinet shuffle, SaskPower found a way to cut costs for consumers, bringing forward revised financial forecasts.
“This includes a two per cent reduction in the corporation’s operations, maintenance and administration spending in 2010,” he said in a prepared statement. “This, along with the lower market price of natural gas and greater hydro-electricity capacity from spring rains, resulted in the recommendation of 4.5 per cent.”
SaskPower’s news release said the government “will ensure SaskPower does its best to propose regular, moderate rate increases,” but cites aging electrical infrastructure as a challenge.
“We are committed to ensuring SaskPower’s rates remain affordable, especially when compared to other thermal-based utilities,” said Norris.
“On average, SaskPower’s system-wide rates are approximately 20 per cent lower than those of other thermal-generation based utilities across Canada.”
Lingenfelter called the rate increase an “assault” on rural Saskatchewan, adding concerned farmers have contacted the party.
“What sense does this make at a time when (farmers’) income is going down by 55 per cent and they’ve been flooded out. And now Brad Wall comes and hammers us over the head with a 17 per cent power increase,” he said. 
“They are saying ‘what kind of help is that?’ We thought it would go the other way where he would go to Ottawa, fight for a $100 an acre payment, fight for $50 a head for cattle and instead he doesn’t even bother to ask Ottawa for the money. Then more than that, slaps on 17 per cent power increase he has total control over.”