Renewing Relationships with Northern Indigenous Communities to Increase Energy Efficiency

Renewing relationships

with Northern Indigenous communities to increase energy efficiency

- By Natosha Lipinski -

Manager, Communications Strategy, SaskPower

Renewing relationships to foster an energy-efficient Saskatchewan is a priority for SaskPower. As part of this commitment, SaskPower created the Indigenous Customer Care Team with the goal of lowering power bills in several high-consuming communities in Northern Saskatchewan. Now entering its second year, the successful pilot program is focused on addressing root causes of energy difficulty through collaborative solutions. Part of SaskPower’s commitment to collaborating with

Northern Indigenous communities is to effectively connect and engage with these communities by translating materials into local

Indigenous languages of Cree and Déne and communicating through direct social media messaging. The team is increasing energy literacy, efficiency and conservation efforts and awareness of common SaskPower processes such as billing, payments and service address changes in the north.

The five-person Indigenous Customer Care Team works as a liaison between SaskPower, the communities of Fond du Lac, Clearwater River Déne and the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation communities of Deschambault Lake, Pelican Narrows, Southend, and Sandy Bay. The team partners with the local leaders and offices to provide opportunities for engagement, to learn about energy and ways to save money on power bills. The program also includes a local Indigenous member to fulfill the role of a Community Power Representative – a critical conduit between the Indigenous Customer Care team, SaskPower, and the community. Together, they increase energy literacy in the communities and help deliver energy efficiency tools to reduce power bills.

“Reducing customer bills and increasing energy literacy is a priority for SaskPower,” said Mike Marsh, President and CEO of SaskPower. “The Indigenous Customer Care team is a unique outreach initiative to Northern communities that SaskPower is very proud of. They do great work and continue to reach these communities on a very direct and personal level.”

SaskPower provides training on billing, payments, energy efficiency, and other important services to the Community Power Representative who then uses this knowledge to train and engage with their community through in-home consultations, one-on-one information sessions, and written materials from SaskPower. The communities selected in the pilot project were chosen due to their very high energy use and the impact this has on their community. Their use is higher than other communities for a number of reasons, the largest factor being electric heat, as northern Indigenous communities do not have the option of natural gas heat.

In total, the Indigenous Customer Care team will be working with 2,000 customers in the pilot communities.

“The knowledge and opportunities the team brings to our community to help educate our residents is exceptionally helpful,” said Darrin Morin, Band Councillor of Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation. “We have very high electricity bills in the north so it is great to have a unique relationship with SaskPower that helps us with this issue.”

The Indigenous Customer Care team was established in 2019 as a pilot project, and SaskPower is currently evaluating more communities to be serviced by the team, with decisions expected to be made later this year.

SaskPower is Saskatchewan’s leading energy supplier. They are defined by their commitment to support economic growth and enhance the quality of life in the province.