Phil Tank: Some in Sask. still paying carbon tax to heat their homes

Those living in condominiums in Saskatchewan may be denied the carbon tax exemption because their accounts are classified as commercial.

Author of the article:

Phil Tank • Saskatoon StarPhoenix

Published Mar 20, 2024 • Last updated 1 hour ago • 3 minute read

A SaskEnergy employee changes a natural gas meter in Regina, Sask., in February of 2013. Photo by Don Healy /Regina Leader-Post

We were told Saskatchewan’s decision to stop collecting the carbon tax on home heating was prompted by the need for fairness.

When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s federal government provided an exemption from the carbon tax for those who use expensive heating oil to heat their homes, it resembled a nakedly partisan attempt to reward Liberal voters in the Atlantic provinces with preferential treatment.

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Seeing an opportunity, Premier Scott Moe declared he would break the law by refusing to collect and then remit the carbon tax on home heating in Saskatchewan as it applies to those who use natural gas or electricity to heat their homes, which covers 95 per cent of those in the province.

But not everyone is getting the exemption for heating their home, even though this move was billed as all about fairness.

If you live in a condominium or an apartment building, the province may still be collecting the federal carbon tax on your home heating.

That’s because some condominiums are classified as commercial accounts instead of residential, explains Saskatchewan government spokesperson Sam Sasse in an email.

Condominiums are usually incorporated as non-profit entities run by a board. (Full disclosure: I serve on a condo board in Saskatoon.)

Doug Wilson, who lives in an apartment-style condo complex with 61 units in Saskatoon’s Lawson Heights neighbourhood, wrote to the StarPhoenix to complain his facility is not receiving the carbon tax break from SaskEnergy. He says residents feel discriminated against.

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“Denying our condo association the financial benefit of this tax-exempt program seems extremely unfair,” Wilson writes. “Our residents certainly look forward to having this resolved.”

Sasse says condominiums can switch from commercial to residential accounts and advises representatives to contact SaskEnergy to discuss their options.

But he warns that switch might be more expensive than the benefit from the carbon tax exemption because commercial accounts pay a lower delivery charge and are billed only “one basic monthly charge.”

So condo dwellers, as well as those in apartments, depending on their heating configuration, might be worse off by changing their account designation to meet the requirement for the carbon tax exemption on natural gas.

As for how many people might be affected by this distinction, Sasse says the province tracks usage by account, not by the number of people with a residential natural gas meter.

But the 2021 census showed 72,895 apartment-style homes in Saskatchewan of 449,580 total dwellings, about 16 per cent. So the absent exemption could affect tens of thousands.

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Yet if fairness is truly the pursuit with Saskatchewan’s refusal to collect the carbon tax, the number of people affected should not matter.

Had the Saskatchewan Party government truly been concerned about affordability for all instead of a dispute with the federal Liberals, it could have reduced or suspended the 15-cents-a-litre provincial gas tax, one of the country’s highest.

Removing the carbon tax on natural gas home heating is expected to save the average family $400 a year and families using electric power to heat their homes will save about $21 per month, Sasse says.

But Saskatchewan stands alone in refusing to pay the carbon tax to Ottawa — which even the province acknowledges violates the law — despite widespread opposition, because of the threat it poses to carbon rebates.

Saskatchewan receives the second highest amount in carbon rebates in the country, after Alberta. A family of four is scheduled to receive up to $1,800 in carbon rebates from the federal government this year, says Katherine Cuplinkas, a spokesperson for federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland.

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“If the government of Saskatchewan does not abide by federal law, this direct support to Saskatchewanians could be at risk,” Cuplinkas says in an emailed statement.

Removing the carbon tax on home heating will save most residents some money, but the gambit jeopardizes a far greater carbon rebate.

And, if you live in an apartment or condo, you may still be paying the carbon tax on heating your home and also face the prospect of a reduced rebate.

Phil Tank is the digital opinion editor at the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.

ptank@postmedia.com

twitter.com/thinktankSK

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