The federal carbon tax will be going up on January 1st. 

The carbon tax, which is currently being applied in Saskatchewan, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick, will increase from $30 a tonne to $40 a tonne. This will result in a number of price increases including gasoline, and power bills. 

For SaskPower customers, the increase will vary depending on consumption. The carbon tax is a separate line item on a SaskPower bill.  

SaskPower has previously committed to not looking at a rate increase in 2021, and the provincial government recently implemented a 10 percent Saskatchewan Economic Recovery Rebate on power bills.  

The carbon tax, a regulatory fee implemented by the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, is scheduled to increase to $50 a tonne in 2022, before increasing $15 a year after that until reaching $170 a tonne in 2030. 

The federal carbon levy only applies to provinces that don’t have a carbon pricing scheme of their own that meets requirements outlined in the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act. The levy itself is currently being challenged by the Saskatchewan government in court, and a decision is expected to be issued by the Supreme Court of Canada in the new year.