SaskEnergy is asking the Saskatchewan Rate Review Panel for a rate reduction, which would bring the commodity rate to its lowest in 20 years. The announcement was made by the Crown natural gas company Friday morning.

The commodity rate for SaskEnergy is currently $3.65 per gigajoule, and the request is to lower the rate to $2.65 per gigajoule effective April 1st. The request has SaskEnergy also asking for a 3.7 percent delivery service rate increase, taking effect on the same date.

While there is an increase in the delivery rate, with the dollar per gigajoule reduction the average customer will still see an 8.8 percent decrease in their monthly bill.

Ken From, the president and CEO of SaskEnergy, said the savings could start before the requested effective date of April 1st.

“We’re going to ask the panel for approval to have an interim rate reduction, prior to them finalizing all their documentation, so that starting on November 1st, actually, we can start passing on some savings to our customers,” From explained.

The interim rate SaskEnergy requested is $2.95 per gigajoule.