MOOSOMIN — Saskatchewan's provincial government removed the carbon tax from natural gas home heating bills effective Jan. 1. Since that time, people living in apartments have questioned how the change affects them.
“If the resident in an apartment complex has a residential SaskEnergy account — that is, the account is registered as residential and the tenant pays their own energy bill — then they will not pay the carbon tax on their SaskEnergy bill for any usage that occurred after Jan. 1,” explained provincial government spokesperson Matthew Glover.
For apartment buildings with one meter coming in, things can get a little confusing. If the building is owned as private housing, the landlord would be charged carbon tax and may pass that increase along to the tenants in the form of rental increases.
“In multi-unit buildings if there is only one meter, and basically that’s most of our senior buildings for the gas because it’s a boiler, we are charged the gas, we are charged the carbon tax,” said Sheilagh Garrett, manager of the Moosomin Housing Authority. “Because we are government, we have set rates, so all our rates are based on minimum and maximum, and then at 30 per cent. So for Moosomin Housing, it doesn’t impact us.
“Our rates haven’t changed at all,” Garrett assured.
She looked into some of the concerns the tax might have created, and discovered the same answer Glover presented — if individuals have the bill in their name, they would not pay the carbon tax in a multi-unit building.
“For example, our Greystone has 12 units,” she said. “Everyone pays their own meter and it’s in their name, they would have no carbon tax.”
Garrett also doesn’t foresee issues with rare residential vacancies, but will continue to keep an eye on the gas bills.
“If we have a vacant residence and it’s a single meter, we shouldn’t have to pay a carbon tax on that,” she said. “There’s no gas being used but it’s not in a private person’s name.”
Some people opening their gas bill after that Jan. 1 date may have noticed only a partial deduction, which Glover confirmed the full tax would still apply on use prior to 2024.
“The bills noted would be normal, assuming they receive their energy bill mid-month,” he said. “The January bill would be half December and half January, whereas the February bill would be all January usage and therefore no carbon tax.”
Glover also advised anyone with questions about their gas bill to contact SaskEnergy.
The government of Saskatchewan is the registered distributor of natural gas, which was formerly handled by SaskEnergy. The move was made in part to ensure SaskEnergy and its employees would not face fines or other penalties for not collecting the carbon tax.
