SaskPower is reporting an $8-million improvement in their 2019-2020 annual report.
The Crown corporation announced on Monday morning that net income was at $205 million this past fiscal year, up $8 million from 2018-2019. In addition, about $696 million was invested into the province’s electrical system, including $374 million in repairs and upgrades to infrastructure and $253 million on new projects such as generation facilities and growing grid capacity.
Around $69 million was spent on other strategic investments such as technology and security, Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) and other projects.
During the presentation of the report on Monday morning from SaskPower headquarters in Regina, Minister responsible for SaskPower Dustin Duncan admitted the 2019-2020 fiscal year has been “an unprecedented one” in many ways because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Minister Duncan said the crisis changed everything, from nearly 2,000 thousand employees having to work from home, to less activity in the economy. However the company is unsure how much COVID-19 will impact revenues in the upcoming fiscal year.
Duncan mentioned that sales were down by 10 per cent from April to June and that deferred bill payments are at $47 million from the end of last month.
In saying that, Duncan said it’s too early to tell at this point if the pandemic will affect rates for customers, adding there will be some significant decisions to make.
“The intention is not to have a rate increase, but we will see what the future holds in the coming months,” shared Duncan.
“We’re all keen to see what the financial impact has been over the last number of months. We will be going into the future not knowing what will be in store for customers in Saskatchewan and around the world.”
SaskPower President and CEO Mike Marsh said they are keeping a close eye on the situation.
“As revenues drop, remember the load is falling, so some of our expenses are falling as well,” explained Marsh. “It’s really the net income that drives a rate increase requirement going forward.”
$83 million was also collected from residents thanks to the federal carbon tax, which was a contributing factor to revenues since it began in April 2019. $49 million was recorded in 2019 and $34 million in 2020.
The full 2019-2020 report can be viewed at their website.
