REGINA - Premier Scott Moe has announced that the province has decided to extend the carbon tax exemption to electricity used to heat homes, effective Jan. 1.
This is in addition to the government's move to stop collecting the carbon tax on natural gas for home heating, to match the federal exemption for heating oil announced by the Trudeau government.
Moe's latest announcement came in a social media video released Thursday. In that video Moe stood with Jim Lemaigre, Sask Party MLA for Athabasca, in which they pointed out that about 30,000 Saskatchewan households, mostly in northern and First Nation homes, use electricity for heating,
"Jim makes a great point," said Moe. "Our government made the decision to remove the carbon tax on natural gas because you, Saskatchewan people, own the natural gas utility, SaskEnergy. Well, we also own the power utility and that is why our government has decided that SaskPower will also stop collecting the carbon tax on the electric heat effective Jan. 1."
Moe said they will have to determine who is heating their home with electricity and then estimate the percentage of their power bill being used for heat. "But those are details and we will get those worked out."