A letter from SGI rarely contains news as good as the one you could be getting in the next few days. The crown corporation announced on Tuesday they would soon be mailing out rebate cheques to qualified customers. 

The mailout will begin this week with about 709,000 cheques to be sent to SGI ratepayers. Because of the sheer number of cheques that need to go out, they expect this process will take about three weeks. 

"These rebates will provide a significant injection into the provincial economy, at a time when it will certainly be a welcome boost," Minister Responsible for SGI Don Morgan said.

According to their release, SGI expects people to get their cheques between mid-May and mid-June. Because of the way the cheques are being mailed out, you might not get your cheque at the same time someone else in your household receives theirs. 

Rebates are coming to anyone that registered a vehicle in Saskatchewan and met the residency requirements to register a vehicle as of February 26, 2021. In total, SGI estimates they're giving out $285,000,000 in rebates. 

The cheques are based on the amount of money you paid annually on average over three years. So, if you paid $1000 a year on average, your rebate cheque would amount to 26 percent of that, or $260. You get a rebate for every vehicle you've registered. 

"SGI maintains a rate stabilization reserve," Media Relations Manager Tyler McMurchy said. "It's essentially a rainy-day fund and it helps keep our rates low in the event of a sudden increase in claims. That rate stabilization reserve actually has more money than it needs to fulfill that rainy-day function because, essentially, over the past several years and particularly in 2020, there were stronger than anticipated investment returns."

SGI also said they will not issue any cheques if anyone ends up with a rebate of less than $5.00 and will credit their account instead.