SaskEnergy announced it filed a combined one-year commodity and three-year delivery service rate proposal with the Saskatchewan Rate Review Panel that would increase the average customer's monthly bill by around $11.95 per month in year one, $2.43 per month in year two, and $2.53 per month in year three.

Those respective increases are 16.8 per cent, 2.9 per cent, and 2.53 per cent. The first would come into effect on August 1, 2022, the second on June 1, 2023, and the third on June 1, 2024.

SaskEnergy said in a release that "the commodity rate is set on a cost-recovery basis, reflecting the market costs of natural gas, with no profit or loss earned or incurred by SaskEnergy."

"SaskEnergy’s residential customers currently have the lowest natural gas bills in Canada and will continue to have the lowest natural gas bills in the country if this proposal is approved,” Acting President and CEO Mark Guillet said in the release.

SaskEnergy graphicGraphic provided by SaskEnergy

SaskEnergy said they were able to achieve some price stability thanks to having a "hedging (price risk management) strategy that locks in the commodity price of natural gas for purchase in the future."

"Following the sharp rise in natural gas prices in 2022, some utilities across Canada have implemented commodity rates of more than $8 per gigajoule, which is almost double what we are proposing," Guillet said. "Our hedging strategy has allowed SaskEnergy to propose a commodity rate of $4.20 per gigajoule, which is much lower than the market price of natural gas. Without this strategy, SaskEnergy would need a commodity rate of at least $6 per gigajoule."