The Minister responsible for SaskPower says he will meet with the Chief of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation in the coming weeks to discuss high electricity consumption in Southend.
Dustin Duncan says he talked with Chief Peter Beatty this week, following a recent media report that suggests residents in Southend consume two to three times more electricity than other northern communities.
One Southend resident reported receiving a $1000 power bill.
“That is one of the reasons why we want to sit down with the Chief, to determine why it seems that Southend has higher bills than maybe some of the other communities. We want to sit down and find out what is the actual consumption use,” Duncan said. “This is a consumption issue with northern Saskatchewan and not a rate issue because the rate is no different.”
This is not the first time northerners have reported or complained about unexpectedly high power bills, which some struggle to pay.
“[We] need to find out what is causing the huge power bills that families and Elders are experiencing at different times of the year,” Cumberland MLA Doyle Vermette explained.
Vermette says the high bills are forcing some to use generators to produce electricity as they are struggling to pay their bills.
He says with the high cost of living in the north, residents are finding it difficult to make ends meet.
Duncan says residents can self-report their meter readings monthly for an accurate consumption, rather than relying on estimated usage, where a catch up bill is required or participate in the equalization program.
(SaskPower Minister Dustin Duncan. MBC file.)