Nathan VanderKlippe
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Sep 02/02) - The price of power will go down in most small NWT communities if the territory's power company gets its way.

The NWT Power Corporation is just over a week away from submitting a proposal to the Public Utilities Board that asks for sweeping changes to the way electricity is charged.

The public utilities board must approve all rate changes made by NTPC.

The concept is simple: charge one rate for the whole territory. It's a significant departure from the accepted practice in the territory, which has seen a graded scale that offers communities like Yellowknife and Hay River much lower power rates than smaller communities like Wha Ti and Deline.

"We've got a situation where it's important for the remote communities to continue to be strong markets," said NTPC spokesman Peter Watt. "So the levelized rates that are being proposed at the moment will help all sectors of those local markets -- residential, commercial and government."

NTPC currently offers power at 140 different rates across the territory. A flat rate would allow the company to save costs in streamlining, Watt said.

It's not the first time such a system has been discussed. Just last month NTPC was denied an application to apply a 10 per cent increase in costs across the territory. The PUB told the company to resubmit the application using the currently-accepted rate structure, which sees smaller communities pay for more.

Ironically, though, the biggest beneficiary of a flat tax would be neither users nor the company, but the GNWT. The territorial government currently subsidizes the cost of power in many small communities, meaning residents pay the bulk rate for electricity on their first 700 kilowatts of power. The GNWT makes up the rest.

If prices go down, the GNWT stands to save significant costs. Businesses and residents in the larger communities could see major price increases, however.

As part of its efforts to pass the new rates, NTPC has promised to seek out the small communities to give them a larger voice in the public consultation process. Currently, communities like Yellowknife play a significant role in opposing huge rate hikes. That led NTPC president Leon Courneya to call the capital city a "10,000-pound gorilla" at a recent speech he made to the local Chamber of Commerce.

Talk of setting small communities against larger ones worries Gord Van Tighem, mayor of Yellowknife.

"If NTPC as a corporation is going to work to break down a developing positive relationship between the tax-based and non-tax-based municipalities, I see that as counter-productive," he said.

Van Tighem also said NTPC should spend more time focusing on its own internal efficiencies than on trying to raise more cash.

"It's sort of like (NTPC says), 'we're short, give us more,' rather than, 'we're short; this is what we're saving and we need your contribution to make up the difference.' "

Watt said NTPC's arguments were solely business-minded. Anything with political implications will come from the PUB, he said.