Power subsidy will cost GNWT $5.5 million
Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Mar 12/01) - The program used to partially offset the high cost of power in some smaller communities is projected to cost $1.1 million more this year.
Financial Management Board secretary Lew Voytilla said the government anticipates spending $5.5 million on the territorial power support program, mainly as a result of increased power prices in communities with diesel generators.
The rise in power rates is the result of increased fuel costs, passed on to customers by the NWT Power Corporation.
Under the program the government subsidizes communities to the going rate in Yellowknife for the first 700 kilowatt hours each month.
After that, consumers pay the actual cost of electricity in their community.
"As long as the Yellowknife base rate doesn't go up ... and as long as (power consumers) are not energy hogs, they're not going to feel any increase in their power bills," explained Voytilla.
To give some sense of how much power a household consumes, NTPC statistics show that for Norman Wells last January 42 per cent of residential customers used 700 kwh or less, 19 per cent used 700-1,000 and 39 per cent used more than 1,000 kwh.
In summer months, power consumption drops dramatically.
