SaskPower has unveiled a new net metering program.

The previous program was  suspended last month after it reached its cap two-years ahead of schedule.

Minister for SaskPower Dustin Duncan says starting November 1st, applications will be open with the same technology and criteria in place as the old program. “What is changing though is there will not be a rebate going forward, we’re also ensuring that there is no megawatt cap, there is no contract and therefore to term on that contract so this is an indefinite program for people that want to take part.”

Duncan says excess credit will be credited back at 7.5 cents per kilowatt hour for the first two years, with a tariff established on a yearly basis that people will feed back into the grid.

“It’s certainly my hope that this will provide sustainability for the industry, that they have a program that they can take forward to their potential customers,” adds Duncan. “While at the same time ensuring that we are not passing onto customers who don’t have solar panels more costs to upkeep the grid to ensure there is generation transmission distribution of the electrical system.”

The Provincial NDP is critical of the fact there is no credits to help pay for solar panels and installation costs.

Leader Ryan Meili says cutting the rebate  will effectively kill the solar panel industry in Saskatchewan. “They eliminated the rebate, they cut the credit program in half and we have been on the phone already with leaders in this industry that are saying we will see lots of job loss as we’ve basically seen, with a stroke of a pen, the Sask. Party decide to kill this industry.”

Meili adds he is calling on the government to get back to, at the very least, the previous program.

SaskPower says this work meets its target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.