SaskPower reports net loss of $172M for past year, NDP denounce quietly released report

In a recently released Crown Annual Report, SaskPower reported a net loss of $172.1 million for 2022-2023, something the NDP said was released quietly weeks later than previous years.

“People shouldn’t pay for the Sask. Party’s colossal mismanagement of our Crowns,” NDP Leader Carla Beck said in a news release.

“We’re talking about the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars that could keep costs for working families lower.”

The Crown annual report was released on July 28 – which the NDP said was weeks later than previous years, with no news releases or press conferences.

In 2021-2022, the report was released on July 6 and for 2020-2021, the report was released on July 7.

Last year, combined net Crown profits totalled $361 million, while this year’s consolidated net earnings were $7.4 million, the opposition claimed.

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NDP MLA Trent Wotherspoon said the government is desperate to hide their failures.

“These failures are leading to working families paying $1,608 more a year in taxes and utilities,” he said.

In SaskPower’s Annual Report, the Crown said a number of factors contributed to the net loss of $172 million, including “increased fuel and purchased power costs and operating, maintenance and administration expenses.”

In order to support SaskPower’s long-term financial flexibility a “four per cent system-wide average rate increase was implemented effective September 1, 2022, and a four per cent system-wide average rate increase effective April 1, 2023.

The government said it wasn’t allowed to provide the opposition or media with an opportunity this year to explain the financial results because of three Regina area by elections.

-With files from Wayne Mantyka