Bevington: Community ownership the way to go
Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Dec 20/00) - A report on the North's electrical system is as notable for what's not in it as what is, a veteran of Northern power policy says.
Dennis Bevington, co-owner of an alternative energy business in Fort Smith and a long-time commentator on Northern energy issues, said the report, released earlier this month, failed to consider such issues as community ownership of utilities, how big industrial users fit into the system and new alternatives to diesel-fired generators.
"It recommends securing the position of the power corporation by making them an unregulated monopoly and allowing them to expand that monopoly into other areas," said Bevington of the report. "We don't think that's a healthy situation."
Bevington said community ownership of electrical generation and distribution systems is the rule rather than the exception in most rural areas.
But Frame Lake MLA Charles Dent says the report was "right on the mark" when it suggested the corporation not be broken up.
Dent was the minister responsible for the power corporation in the last government and opposed the splitting of it with division of the territories.
The current corporate structure provides maximum economies of scale, Dent said, adding there is no evidence to support the position that the North would be better served by a privately-owned utility.
Dent also dismissed another suggestion Bevington and his partner in Stand Alone Energy Systems, Jack Van Camp, said warranted investigation -- the linking of the Talston and Snare hydro systems.
Van Camp and Bevington said a 1991 power corporation study estimated it would cost $80 million to build a hydro around Great Slave Lake to link the two systems.
Dent said that was something that has been considered, "but there was just no way it made sense to do it."
One way to make it make sense, Bevington said, was to connect the diamond mines to the grid.
"For an investment of $150 million you would collect $50 million a year in revenues," Bevington said.
The power corporation has been trying to convince BHP and Diavik diamond mines to tap into the Snare grid, with no success so far.
"I don't think there's a lot of desire to get tied up in another environmental assessment process," Dent said, referring to the assessment that would be required prior to construction of any new hydro lines.
