2026 Proposed Utility Rates

Consultation has concluded

The City of Yorkton’s water utility is an enterprise fund, required by legislation to be self-sustaining; funded by rates, not taxes.

It pays for itself with utility rate revenue. The utility manages the whole water cycle—producing source water, treating it, storing it, delivering it to homes and businesses, collecting wastewater, treating it, and safely returning it to the environment.

By focusing on service improvements and repairing or replacing infrastructure in a timely manner, the utility keeps systems reliable and quality high. This keeps the City prepared for growth, helps mitigate climate change impacts, and keeps us compliant with evolving regulations.

Download and read the public presentation on 2026 Proposed Utility Rates here.





Fast Facts

1. The water and wastewater utility is a self-sustaining enterprise.
Under Saskatchewan’s municipal legislative framework, water and sewer services in Yorkton are operated as a self-sustaining utility. In practical terms, this means the utility cannot draw on property tax revenues to operate, upgrade, or expand the system; costs must be recovered from the people and businesses that use the service.

2. Yorkton’s rates remain competitive in 2025 and are projected to stay competitive in 2026.
Comparative analysis shows that the typical 2025 monthly utility bill in Yorkton stays within, and often below, the range charged by peer communities. The 2026 rate model has been built to keep Yorkton at or near the lower end of base charges while still improving its reinvestment obligations.

3. Every bill has two components — fixed and variable — and both are necessary.
The fixed monthly base rate pays for the system that must exist whether or not a household uses much water: mains, manholes, emergency response, etc. that must be available 24 hours a day. The variable, or consumption, rate pays for the water that is actually produced, treated, conveyed, and then treated again as wastewater. Households that use more pay more on the variable side, but the fixed side must still cover readiness-to-serve costs.

4. All revenues are reinvested in the utility.
For 2026, the financial plan anticipates that for every $1.00 received:

  • approximately $0.57 will support day-to-day utility operations (staffing, chemicals, power, compliance, fleet, site maintenance);
  • approximately $0.21 will be allocated to priority capital projects; and
  • approximately $0.22 will be placed in reserves to fund future work and manage risk.

5. The system is extensive — and aging.
Yorkton operates and maintains more than 300 km of water distribution and sewer collection mains, two treatment facilities, four storage reservoirs, and two pumping stations. All of these assets have finite service lives. All of them need ongoing reinvestment to avoid failure, service interruptions, or regulatory non-compliance.

6. Industrial expansion is positive, but it increases utility costs.
Large industrial users can create significant, sudden, or sustained demands on the water and wastewater system. To keep things fair, Yorkton expanded the Industrial Block Rate premium so high-volume industrial users carry the proportionate costs tied to their growth, rather than shifting those costs to residents.

7. The rate model follows recognized best practice.
The City builds and reviews its rates using the American Water Works Association (AWWA) M1 manual — the industry standard for transparent, equitable, and defensible rate setting. This gives Council and the public a clear line of sight from utility costs to utility rates.

8. Future-year rates are shown for visibility, not preapproval.
Projected rates for 2027 are provided to help residents, businesses, and industry see the likely financial path of the utility. However, Council still approves rates annually. Projections are planning tools, not automatic increases.

9. Yorkton operates close to $1 billion in assets with about $17 million per year.
If the community had to replace the entire water and wastewater system today, it would cost more than $900 million. Instead, the City is operating, maintaining, and gradually renewing that system on roughly $17 million in annual revenue, which means every dollar must be prioritized and used efficiently.

10. A portion of the system has already exceeded its intended life.
Roughly 12 percent of the water system is now past its expected service life, up from 9 percent the year before. That is movement in the wrong direction and is a major reason the utility is accelerating reinvestment. Deferred replacement today is almost always more expensive tomorrow.

11. At current replacement levels, renewal would take centuries.
With main replacements averaging about 400 metres per year, the implied replacement cycle is roughly 397 years. A modern municipal system cannot be responsibly operated on that kind of cycle, which is why the City is proposing rate-supported increases to renewal.

12. Emergencies cost more than planned work.
Field experience shows that emergency water break repairs can cost three to five times more per metre than planned, coordinated, budgeted work. By stabilizing rates and increasing planned renewal, the City can reduce reactive work and save ratepayers money over the long term.



Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. Why are water and sewer rates increasing?
Because the utility must pay for what it actually costs to run the system. Operating inputs (power, chemicals, labour, compliance) increase over time. Major mains and facilities that were built decades ago now require renewal. Growth-related upgrades must be constructed to serve industrial customers. The Province expects the utility to fund those obligations through utility revenues, not through property tax. Freezing rates in 2026–2027 would push the utility’s cash position below prudent levels and weaken its ability to respond to emergencies.

Q2. Why doesn’t the City just use tax dollars instead?
Yorkton’s water and wastewater services are run as a self-supporting utility. That model is fairer because it asks the users of the system — households, commercial customers, and industrial clients — to pay for the system they benefit from. It is also the model that aligns with provincial expectations for municipal utilities.

Q3. What will a typical household pay in 2025?
A household using around 13 m³ per month will see an increase of roughly $6.95 per month, bringing the bill to about $84.95 per month. Even with that change, Yorkton remains in an affordable position when compared with other Saskatchewan municipalities.

Q4. What does the additional money actually do?
The additional revenue keeps treatment facilities, pumps, reservoirs, and control systems running safely and reliably. It allows the utility to replace pipes before they fail. It supports servicing for industrial expansion so that residential customers are not subsidizing that growth. And it rebuilds reserves so the City can respond to emergencies without imposing sudden, steep rate hikes or immediately turning to debt.

Q5. My tap water looks the same. Why does it cost more?
Most of the costs in a water and wastewater system are not the glass of water on your counter — they are the buried mains, the pumping stations, the treatment equipment, the laboratory work, and the regulatory reporting that makes that glass safe. Those costs rise even if your personal household use stays unchanged. That is why a robust base rate is essential.

Q6. What is the “base rate,” and why did it increase by $5.00?
The base rate is the fixed monthly charge that guarantees your service is ready when you need it. It rose from $24.25 to $29.25 on January 1, 2025, and is proposed to increase again to $34.25 on January 1, 2026. That adjustment more accurately reflects the true fixed cost of maintaining a 24/7 system. Even with the increase, Yorkton’s base rate remains below the 2025 average for similar cities.

Q7. What is the “consumption rate”?
This is the rate you pay per cubic metre of water actually used. It increased from $3.66/m³ to $3.75/m³ in 2025 — a 2.33% rise — and is proposed to move to $3.90/m³ on January 1, 2026 – a 4.00% rise. That increase reflects updated costs for producing, treating, and delivering water, and for collecting and treating wastewater.

Q8. Why is there a separate Industrial Block Rate?
Large industrial users can create very high, sometimes peaking, demands on the system, and those demands often require larger pipes, additional pumping capacity, or earlier-than-planned upgrades. The Industrial Block Rate ensures those users contribute proportionately to the system that enables their operations, so that residential and small commercial customers are not subsidizing industrial growth.

Q9. How reliable are the City’s forecasts?
The 2025 model was accurate within 4.4 percent of updated actuals — about 95.6 percent accurate. The variance is believed to be tied to a major industrial expansion that was deferred. That performance shows the City’s financial modelling is sound and that year-to-year adjustments can be managed.

Q10. What happens if we do not invest now?
Deferring upgrades and replacements leads to higher risk of main breaks, service outages, emergency excavations, and potential non-compliance with environmental or drinking water standards. Those events are more expensive than planned work — emergency repairs can run three to five times the cost per metre of scheduled replacements. Early, steady investment is the fiscally prudent option.

Q11. Why is so much attention being put on the existing system?
Because the current main replacement rate implies an almost 400-year cycle. That is not a sustainable approach for a system that is already showing sections beyond their expected service life. If we install a 100-year pipe in front of a home today but do not come back for nearly four centuries, the system will fail long before replacement. Increasing reinvestment brings the replacement cycle closer to the actual lives of the assets.

Q13. Why are industrial customers seeing larger base-rate changes?
Industrial customers use large volumes of water that must be moved through larger diameter mains and supported by more robust infrastructure. Under the previous rate structure, they were not fully covering the lifecycle cost of those assets. Updating the industrial base rate and the block premium works to close that gap and helps ensure households do not underwrite industrial expansion.

Q15. Why not just borrow for the big projects?
Borrowing is a legitimate tool, but it shifts today’s cost to tomorrow’s ratepayers and adds interest. At present, Yorkton’s utility is not carrying utility debt, which is a strong position. By funding the majority of needs through rates, the City preserves borrowing capacity for genuine emergencies or for large, one-time, non-deferrable projects.

Q18. What is the benefit of increasing rates gradually instead of waiting?
Smaller, earlier, predictable adjustments prevent the situation where Council must approve a single, very large “catch-up” increase that is difficult for households and businesses to absorb. It is the same logic people use when they perform regular maintenance on a vehicle instead of waiting for a major engine failure.

Q20. How do climate and regulation factor into this?
Maintaining reliable treatment, adequate storage, and emergency repair capacity helps the City meet evolving regulatory standards and manage weather-related or climate-driven events. Deferring replacements may reduce costs in the short term but it leaves the system more exposed to compliance risk and unplanned outages, both of which are costly to correct.

The City of Yorkton’s water utility is an enterprise fund, required by legislation to be self-sustaining; funded by rates, not taxes.

It pays for itself with utility rate revenue. The utility manages the whole water cycle—producing source water, treating it, storing it, delivering it to homes and businesses, collecting wastewater, treating it, and safely returning it to the environment.

By focusing on service improvements and repairing or replacing infrastructure in a timely manner, the utility keeps systems reliable and quality high. This keeps the City prepared for growth, helps mitigate climate change impacts, and keeps us compliant with evolving regulations.

Download and read the public presentation on 2026 Proposed Utility Rates here.





Fast Facts

1. The water and wastewater utility is a self-sustaining enterprise.
Under Saskatchewan’s municipal legislative framework, water and sewer services in Yorkton are operated as a self-sustaining utility. In practical terms, this means the utility cannot draw on property tax revenues to operate, upgrade, or expand the system; costs must be recovered from the people and businesses that use the service.

2. Yorkton’s rates remain competitive in 2025 and are projected to stay competitive in 2026.
Comparative analysis shows that the typical 2025 monthly utility bill in Yorkton stays within, and often below, the range charged by peer communities. The 2026 rate model has been built to keep Yorkton at or near the lower end of base charges while still improving its reinvestment obligations.

3. Every bill has two components — fixed and variable — and both are necessary.
The fixed monthly base rate pays for the system that must exist whether or not a household uses much water: mains, manholes, emergency response, etc. that must be available 24 hours a day. The variable, or consumption, rate pays for the water that is actually produced, treated, conveyed, and then treated again as wastewater. Households that use more pay more on the variable side, but the fixed side must still cover readiness-to-serve costs.

4. All revenues are reinvested in the utility.
For 2026, the financial plan anticipates that for every $1.00 received:

  • approximately $0.57 will support day-to-day utility operations (staffing, chemicals, power, compliance, fleet, site maintenance);
  • approximately $0.21 will be allocated to priority capital projects; and
  • approximately $0.22 will be placed in reserves to fund future work and manage risk.

5. The system is extensive — and aging.
Yorkton operates and maintains more than 300 km of water distribution and sewer collection mains, two treatment facilities, four storage reservoirs, and two pumping stations. All of these assets have finite service lives. All of them need ongoing reinvestment to avoid failure, service interruptions, or regulatory non-compliance.

6. Industrial expansion is positive, but it increases utility costs.
Large industrial users can create significant, sudden, or sustained demands on the water and wastewater system. To keep things fair, Yorkton expanded the Industrial Block Rate premium so high-volume industrial users carry the proportionate costs tied to their growth, rather than shifting those costs to residents.

7. The rate model follows recognized best practice.
The City builds and reviews its rates using the American Water Works Association (AWWA) M1 manual — the industry standard for transparent, equitable, and defensible rate setting. This gives Council and the public a clear line of sight from utility costs to utility rates.

8. Future-year rates are shown for visibility, not preapproval.
Projected rates for 2027 are provided to help residents, businesses, and industry see the likely financial path of the utility. However, Council still approves rates annually. Projections are planning tools, not automatic increases.

9. Yorkton operates close to $1 billion in assets with about $17 million per year.
If the community had to replace the entire water and wastewater system today, it would cost more than $900 million. Instead, the City is operating, maintaining, and gradually renewing that system on roughly $17 million in annual revenue, which means every dollar must be prioritized and used efficiently.

10. A portion of the system has already exceeded its intended life.
Roughly 12 percent of the water system is now past its expected service life, up from 9 percent the year before. That is movement in the wrong direction and is a major reason the utility is accelerating reinvestment. Deferred replacement today is almost always more expensive tomorrow.

11. At current replacement levels, renewal would take centuries.
With main replacements averaging about 400 metres per year, the implied replacement cycle is roughly 397 years. A modern municipal system cannot be responsibly operated on that kind of cycle, which is why the City is proposing rate-supported increases to renewal.

12. Emergencies cost more than planned work.
Field experience shows that emergency water break repairs can cost three to five times more per metre than planned, coordinated, budgeted work. By stabilizing rates and increasing planned renewal, the City can reduce reactive work and save ratepayers money over the long term.



Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. Why are water and sewer rates increasing?
Because the utility must pay for what it actually costs to run the system. Operating inputs (power, chemicals, labour, compliance) increase over time. Major mains and facilities that were built decades ago now require renewal. Growth-related upgrades must be constructed to serve industrial customers. The Province expects the utility to fund those obligations through utility revenues, not through property tax. Freezing rates in 2026–2027 would push the utility’s cash position below prudent levels and weaken its ability to respond to emergencies.

Q2. Why doesn’t the City just use tax dollars instead?
Yorkton’s water and wastewater services are run as a self-supporting utility. That model is fairer because it asks the users of the system — households, commercial customers, and industrial clients — to pay for the system they benefit from. It is also the model that aligns with provincial expectations for municipal utilities.

Q3. What will a typical household pay in 2025?
A household using around 13 m³ per month will see an increase of roughly $6.95 per month, bringing the bill to about $84.95 per month. Even with that change, Yorkton remains in an affordable position when compared with other Saskatchewan municipalities.

Q4. What does the additional money actually do?
The additional revenue keeps treatment facilities, pumps, reservoirs, and control systems running safely and reliably. It allows the utility to replace pipes before they fail. It supports servicing for industrial expansion so that residential customers are not subsidizing that growth. And it rebuilds reserves so the City can respond to emergencies without imposing sudden, steep rate hikes or immediately turning to debt.

Q5. My tap water looks the same. Why does it cost more?
Most of the costs in a water and wastewater system are not the glass of water on your counter — they are the buried mains, the pumping stations, the treatment equipment, the laboratory work, and the regulatory reporting that makes that glass safe. Those costs rise even if your personal household use stays unchanged. That is why a robust base rate is essential.

Q6. What is the “base rate,” and why did it increase by $5.00?
The base rate is the fixed monthly charge that guarantees your service is ready when you need it. It rose from $24.25 to $29.25 on January 1, 2025, and is proposed to increase again to $34.25 on January 1, 2026. That adjustment more accurately reflects the true fixed cost of maintaining a 24/7 system. Even with the increase, Yorkton’s base rate remains below the 2025 average for similar cities.

Q7. What is the “consumption rate”?
This is the rate you pay per cubic metre of water actually used. It increased from $3.66/m³ to $3.75/m³ in 2025 — a 2.33% rise — and is proposed to move to $3.90/m³ on January 1, 2026 – a 4.00% rise. That increase reflects updated costs for producing, treating, and delivering water, and for collecting and treating wastewater.

Q8. Why is there a separate Industrial Block Rate?
Large industrial users can create very high, sometimes peaking, demands on the system, and those demands often require larger pipes, additional pumping capacity, or earlier-than-planned upgrades. The Industrial Block Rate ensures those users contribute proportionately to the system that enables their operations, so that residential and small commercial customers are not subsidizing industrial growth.

Q9. How reliable are the City’s forecasts?
The 2025 model was accurate within 4.4 percent of updated actuals — about 95.6 percent accurate. The variance is believed to be tied to a major industrial expansion that was deferred. That performance shows the City’s financial modelling is sound and that year-to-year adjustments can be managed.

Q10. What happens if we do not invest now?
Deferring upgrades and replacements leads to higher risk of main breaks, service outages, emergency excavations, and potential non-compliance with environmental or drinking water standards. Those events are more expensive than planned work — emergency repairs can run three to five times the cost per metre of scheduled replacements. Early, steady investment is the fiscally prudent option.

Q11. Why is so much attention being put on the existing system?
Because the current main replacement rate implies an almost 400-year cycle. That is not a sustainable approach for a system that is already showing sections beyond their expected service life. If we install a 100-year pipe in front of a home today but do not come back for nearly four centuries, the system will fail long before replacement. Increasing reinvestment brings the replacement cycle closer to the actual lives of the assets.

Q13. Why are industrial customers seeing larger base-rate changes?
Industrial customers use large volumes of water that must be moved through larger diameter mains and supported by more robust infrastructure. Under the previous rate structure, they were not fully covering the lifecycle cost of those assets. Updating the industrial base rate and the block premium works to close that gap and helps ensure households do not underwrite industrial expansion.

Q15. Why not just borrow for the big projects?
Borrowing is a legitimate tool, but it shifts today’s cost to tomorrow’s ratepayers and adds interest. At present, Yorkton’s utility is not carrying utility debt, which is a strong position. By funding the majority of needs through rates, the City preserves borrowing capacity for genuine emergencies or for large, one-time, non-deferrable projects.

Q18. What is the benefit of increasing rates gradually instead of waiting?
Smaller, earlier, predictable adjustments prevent the situation where Council must approve a single, very large “catch-up” increase that is difficult for households and businesses to absorb. It is the same logic people use when they perform regular maintenance on a vehicle instead of waiting for a major engine failure.

Q20. How do climate and regulation factor into this?
Maintaining reliable treatment, adequate storage, and emergency repair capacity helps the City meet evolving regulatory standards and manage weather-related or climate-driven events. Deferring replacements may reduce costs in the short term but it leaves the system more exposed to compliance risk and unplanned outages, both of which are costly to correct.