Saskatoon man worries changes to SaskPower solar program will derail plans for dream house

Kyle Fisher isn't sure what he's going to do.

Fisher and his wife are in the middle of building a new two-storey house in Saskatoon's Brighton neighbourhood. The house was designed with solar power in mind, and he was waiting for SaskPower to officially add it to its net metering programwhere he would be credited for any unused power the house generated with solar panels andfed back into the power grid.

Last week, however, the provincial Crown corporation announced the net metering program had reached capacity and would not be taking new subscribers until further notice.

Fisher thinks the utility should have given considerably more notice before suspending the project.

"A project like that takes a lot of time," he told CBC Radio's Saskatoon Morning. "It's not like I woke up on Thursday morning and thought, 'You know what? Solar sounds great.'"

He said the house was deliberately built facing southwest and the roof was made as flat as possible to add as many solar panels as possible. He also bought electrical appliances over natural gas, and has wired in fixtures for an electric car, which would now be significantly less economical without solar power.

He's not sure whether he'll be able to significantly change the design of the house at this point.

"Everything that we put into it now is a sunk cost," he said. "Getting out of itit depends on our home builder, I guess. I think they're just as furious about the situation as we are."

On Monday, Dustin Duncan, the minister responsible for SaskPower ,told reporters an alternative solar program will be revealed shortly.

Duncan said the net metering system was overwhelmed with applicants when the program was enhanced last year. He said the new program would need to be done in a sustainable manner, so that it doesn't becomea burden to people who don't have solar panels.

"What I'm asking is for SaskPower to figure out whatever knob they need to turn to make that program sustainable," said Fisher. "They have targets. They have goals to be on renewable energy."

Details on the new system are expected to be announced in October.