SaskatoonDuring budget talks last week, council voted unanimously to reduce the rates at which it compensates Saskatoon Light and Power customers who produce solar power and sell it to the electricity grid.Changes at budget talks slash compensation rates for those producing renewable energyPhil Tank · CBC News · Posted: Dec 05, 2025 12:56 PM EST | Last Updated: 34 minutes agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Solar panels are seen near the Saskatoon landfill. (Trevor Bothorel/CBC)The co-owner of a Saskatoon company that installs solar panels is disappointed with looming changes to the city power utility’s renewable power programs.During budget talks last week, council voted unanimously to reduce the compensation rates for Saskatoon Light and Power customers who produce solar power and sell it to the electricity grid.At the same time, council endorsed a grandfather clause for the hundreds of people taking part in the net metering and small power producer programs, which will keep them at the higher rate for 10 years after they joined.As a result of the grandfather clause, the annual savings from the change will drop to about $25,000 a year, from $70,000.“We used to be, sort of, a real leader in the country,” Brent Veitch, co-owner of Rock Paper Sun Ltd., told host Saskatoon Morning Stephanie Massicotte on Tuesday. “There’s not many places that had a better program than the one-to-one net metering that Saskatoon had. “So I was really proud to be a Saskatoon citizen and, sort of, leading with green and solar technologies.”The change was made to mirror SaskPower credit rates for net metering, which were slashed in 2019 to 7.5 cents per kilowatt hour from 14 cents.At the time, city council decided to keep Saskatoon Light and Power rates unchanged, which amounted to a one-to-one credit to match the retail rate. All those in the program were promised that they would stay at the more favourable rates until 2029.The rate change was one of 108 options presented to council to try to reduce the property tax increases in the two-year budget. Council settled on hikes of 6.7 per cent next year and 5.81 per cent in 2027.City-owned Saskatoon Light and Power serves properties within Circle Drive, while SaskPower, a provincial Crown corporation, supplies electricity for those in the suburbs.’Not the absolute worst’Veitch said he was disappointed but not entirely surprised by the decision, since Saskatoon Light and Power follows SaskPower rates.“It’s not the absolute worst,” he said, comparing the new Saskatoon program with others in Canada. But he acknowledged that it will take people longer to pay off the cost of solar panels.Two-thirds of Veitch’s customers are served by Saskatoon Light and Power, he said. The move will discourage people “a little bit” from opting to produce solar power, he said.Jose Cheruvallath, Saskatoon Light and Power’s metering and sustainable electricity manager, said 458 customers participate in the programs.As of October, those customers added 1.8 gigawatt-hours of renewable energy to the grid, enough to power 200 to 225 homes. That’s increased from 1.6 gigawatt-hours last year. About 45 new customers joined the programs each year, Cheruvallath said.Coun. Zach Jeffries argued at budget talks in favour of the grandfather clause for existing Saskatoon Light and Power customers.“Those few hundred people we’re talking about, in some cases, invested [$10,000, $20,000], $25,000 in good faith because they were asked to help make a difference for carbon pollution,” Jeffries said.Cheruvallath said he does not expect interest in the solar programs to decrease due to the changes. The city is updating its climate action plan to align with federal and provincial commitments to hit net zero for electricity by 2050, he said.ABOUT THE AUTHORPhil Tank is an award-winning journalist based in Saskatoon. He can be reached at phil.tank@cbc.ca.
Saskatoon no longer a leader in solar power, business owner says
