Saskatchewan residents to pay less for natural gas over the winter

Saskatchewan residents will see a drop in the cost to heat their homes when the temperature plunges outside.

The government has approved rate changes for SaskEnergy that will see residential customers pay about $4.42 less a month for the utility starting in January.

The cost of getting energy to homes is actually going up by $1.75 a month, but SaskEnergy says the price of the natural gas itself is going down and that's where the savings come in.

Rate changes were expected to kick in at the start of November.

However, the utility says that had to be delayed until January because it's still working to recoup a $34 million deficit that came out of the severe winter of 2013-2014.

SaskEnergy thought the amount would be down to at least $5 million by Nov. 1, but more than double this amount still remains.