Nathan VanderKlippe
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Sep 16/02) - The price the NWT will pay for electricity is uncertain as the government reviews its power support payment.

Current rates for power in some small communities will tumble with a flat rate. However, residential customers using less than 700 kilowatt hours per month could actually see an increase, since the GNWT currently subsidizes that amount of power to Yellowknife rates. The following are the full rates for residential power in Beaufort Delta communities, in cents per kilowatt hour (excluding the power subsidy which drops the end user's cost): - Aklavik 49.93 - Fort McPherson 48.09 - Holman 67.07 - Inuvik 33.17 - Yellowknife 18 (approx)

The NWT Power Corp. (NTPC) has applied for a flat rate structure for all communities of 23.21 cents per kilowatt-hour for residential users and 21.01 for commercial.

On paper that would push up the cost of electricity for everyone because people in small communities who use less than 700 kWh each month have their rates subsidized to what Yellowknife residents now pay: about 18 cents.

The wild card is the future of the territorial power subsidy program. It's now being reviewed by the GNWT's financial management board.

Right now, the program costs about $7 million annually, funds generated by NTPC profits.

"The intent of the program was to make power rates affordable for domestic and small commercial consumers in the NWT," said Lew Voytilla, who manages the program for the board.

"That's still the objective that we're working towards."

One option would be to spread the $7 million among all users. Another is to scrap the program altogether.

Voytilla said cabinet will review an options paper later this year. It's expected to come out at about the same time as the Public Utilities Board reviews NTPC's application for a flat rate.

The power corporation said its plan will spread the cost of generating electricity across the territory equally.

"With levelized rates, all Northerners share equally in the cost of providing power throughout the territory, resulting in greater equity and sustainability," said Judith Goucher, chief financial officer for the company.

NTPC opponents don't see it that way.

"It's just a very transparent effort to try and transfer costs from the government to the people that pay the rates in the hydroelectric communities," said Jack Van Camp, an NTPC critic based in Fort Smith.

'Flat rate hides increases'

Van Camp accused NTPC of using a flat rate to paper over spiralling costs in the diesel communities. Under a flat rate, repair and maintenance costs are spread out over the entire territory, meaning specific community-based costs are not as readily apparent.

"We are totally opposed to a flat rate," said Dave McPherson, president of the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce. "This is a territorial tax increase which will have ripple effects through the economy."

Critics also suggest a one-rate system encourages people in diesel-powered communities to use more while discouraging use in communities like Yellowknife and Hay River, which use hydro-electricity.

NTPC itself withdrew from a previous attempt to do something similar, by dividing the NWT into several zones, when it faced stiff public opposition.

The primary beneficiary of the plan would be the GNWT, the sole stakeholder in NTPC. The territory currently runs a power support program which subsidizes the cost of the first 700 kWh of electricity for each household to Yellowknife base rates. After that, consumers are charged the full rate.

Meanwhile, NTPC has already begun a concerted plan to get small communities to back the plan. Goucher and company spokesman Peter Watt were in Inuvik Sept. 11, where the company flew in representatives from Beaufort Delta communities for a workshop on the rate increases.

Workshops are also planned in Norman Wells and Fort Simpson.

John Hill, chairperson of the PUB, said a decision on the rate application should be made early in the new year.