As reported in the Regina Leader-Post, with SaskPower’s announcement that its Net Metering program is indefinitely on hold pending a review, local solar companies are decrying the move as devastating for the province’s burgeoning solar industry.

First approved in November 2018, the Net Metering program offered rebates for solar installations and premium credits for surplus power. Customers could generate up to 100 kilowatts of power to decrease their monthly power bills and get credit for the excess power they generate. The program was expected to run until November 2021 or until it hit its 16-megawatt cap.

On Thursday, SaskPower announced the program had reached its cap and is no longer receiving applications while it is under review, preventing anyone not already connected to the grid from getting plugged in.

“What that means for us is that we have nothing to sell … It’s absolutely devastating,” said Miguel Catellier, president of TruGreen Energy in Emerald Park. He noted that all of his business’s solar systems are designed to connect to the province’s power grid.

“Without the ability to connect to the grid with net metering, every company is just done and literally with no notice, like they caught everyone completely off guard.”

Catellier said he — along with 56 other solar companies in Saskatchewan — only found out the program was close to hitting its cap on Wednesday through a conference call with SaskPower.

“We have no date or timeline in terms of when they’re going to have another policy. We were told possibly next spring,” said Catellier.

While he has enough work already lined up to carry the company for a few weeks, Catellier said he will be looking at cutting around 80 per cent of his 30 employees and that most of the province’s solar companies are in the same boat.

“We need government to step up here and intervene on behalf of about 800 jobs in Saskatchewan because if they don’t have an interim program, within a couple of months most of these companies will have laid off most of their employees, if they haven’t shut their doors completely,” he said.

While he understands the need to eliminate the rebate if the program is going over-budget, Catellier said he wants SaskPower to still allow people to access its grid.

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