SaskPower announced that the federal carbon tax rate rider on customers’ bills will increase by an average of 0.5 per cent starting in the new year.

This comes as the federal carbon tax applied to crown corporation’s carbon emissions will increase from $65 to $80 per tonne of CO2 emissions.

The carbon tax increase will be charged on everything except electric heating, and the amount charged per customer will vary depending on their power consumption and rate class.

The average residential customer will see an increase of $5 during the year, bringing their total federal carbon tax bill to $85. The average farm customer will see an increase of $13 for a total federal carbon tax bill of $238 in 2024.

The announcement comes after the Government of Saskatchewan instructed SaskPower to remove the carbon tax from electric home heating.

That is set to benefit approximately 30,000 SaskPower customers, reducing their power bills by an average of $21 per month through the winter.