How to save on utility bills in Saskatoon this summer

Sprinklers water a lawn in this file photo. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

Summer months can bring increased power and water consumption for homes and businesses. Tracking this usage is simple for City of Saskatoon utility customers.

Launched in 2022, SmartUTIL is an online software application that provides customers with live updates on electrical and water-use data. The program delivers hourly water data and electrical data every 15 minutes.

“The motivation was to provide access to that data so that you can make decisions and gain more understanding about how much energy and water people are using on their property,” said Kathryn Theede, the City of Saskatoon’s energy and water conservation manager.

The SmartUTIL program links to your My Utility account. All residents of Saskatoon can create an account for their water meters. Saskatoon Light & Power customers can also see their electricity data. To register for My Utility, use a copy of your last bill on the City of Saskatoon website. Once registered, tracking your water usage on SmartUTIL is just a click away. This service is included at no additional charge.

From there, users can remotely monitor their water and power usage by the hour, day and month, and look for usage trends and habits within their households or businesses.

“(It) allows you to think about changing behaviours, or if you do upgrades, then you can track how those have impacted your water use, which ultimately is a large factor in your utility cost,” Kathryn Theede with the City of Saskatoon said. She advises users to monitor household activities that consume water, such as laundry, lawn watering, running a dishwasher, or using showers and toilets.

“Watch and see what is happening overnight when your house or business is less active. We would expect that you are not using water overnight, so you should be able to see the consumption decrease,” Theede added.

Catching leaks early

Alison Meinert from Eb’s Source for Adventure in Saskatoon wishes she had explored SmartUTIL sooner.

Eb’s location on Saskatchewan Avenue has been their home for more than 50 years, and the building and appliances were starting to age. As they worked to replace and upgrade elements for greater energy efficiency and water consciousness around the business, they decided to replace a toilet.

Logging onto SmartUTIL, she was curious if they would see a difference in usage the weekend after their renovation.

“By Monday, with the business closed, water use was zero. I went back the previous weeks, it was never zero, every day there was this background noise … which is how we noticed our toilet was leaking,” she said.

Meinert recalls the water bill the next month was half of what the business was paying before the new toilet.

Setting alerts and budgets

Another feature of SmartUTIL is setting budgets, or threshold limits, to further monitor water and power use or waste.

Theede explained that she sets a monthly electricity limit just below her average usage.

“If I get an alert in the first three weeks of the month, then I know to go get something checked, because I usually get that alert during the last few days of the month,” she said.

You can check this data for your home from anywhere. Theede also shares a colleague’s story: while on holidays, their water use exceeded their set daily limit. By logging into SmartUTIL, they realized something wasn’t right and were able to send someone to check their irrigation system and stop the outside leak.

“We’re hoping that this tool allows people to look at their water use and find some of those slow leaks or other things happening on their meter and ensure that we’re all using water wisely during the summer months. Ensuring that we are using our resources wisely, reducing that peak outdoor demand and easing the strain on our infrastructure,” Theede said.

Alison Meinert agrees.

“There’s only so much power, there’s only so much water; we’re pretty fortunate to have access to a lot of water and very clean water. You can approach it from both ways: environmentally, use less and be more conscious of how much you’re using. Also, there’s actual savings to making some changes,” Meinert said.

Summer water-saving tips

Now is a great time to start monitoring, as water use typically doubles in the summer months, driven by needs like lawn irrigation, outdoor pools and sprinklers.

There are many ways to stay water wise during the hot Saskatchewan months. Key tips include:

• Watering lawns early in the morning or late at night to reduce evaporation.
• Setting rain barrels to collect rainwater for garden and lawn care. Tracking usage can show how this reduces your overall water consumption.
• Placing mulch and landscaping around your yard to slow evaporation, suppress weeds, and reduce your total water needs outdoors.
• When upgrading or renovating, choose Energy Star and WaterSense fixtures, and practice good conservation habits like turning off fixtures when not in use.

Get started with SmartUTIL today at saskatoon.ca/SmartUTIL.