The implementation of the carbon tax has led to the City of Swift Current increasing the price of power starting next month.

At city council last night, the City approved a motion that will increase power rates by about 1.7 per cent for residential customers and roughly 2.3 per cent for commercial customers.

Those rate increases by the City's Light & Power Utility are the same ones SaskPower will be applying to their customers in hopes of covering the added cost of the carbon tax.

With Swift Current owning its Light & Power Utility, they will be charged that same increase by SaskPower as well.

"SaskPower will increase the re-seller rate, which we pay to SaskPower for our electricity," General Manager of Infrastructure and Operations with the City of Swift Current Mitch Minken told council. "We will in effect be paying SaskPower for the carbon pricing, which they will then remit to the federal government... We will collect the carbon pricing from our customers to offset the charge SaskPower is going to put on our rate."

The rate increase is an estimate by SaskPower as to how much they will owe the federal government.

"That's based on their emissions, it's an output-based system they call it so it's based on their emissions," he said. "Their coal emissions will be at a higher price than their natural gas emissions, and so on. It will depend on how much they actually emit and how much they use the different types of generation."

The Saskatchewan-based Crown corporation will also create an equalization account so that, if the bill from the federal government is less or more than expected, they can either pass on the savings or increase the rates.