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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - With the wheels turning on a proposed merger between the NWT Power Corp. and ATCO holdings, one MLA is worried the territory might be outclassed at the negotiating table.

"ATCO is not a big successful company for no reason," said Kam Lake MLA Dave Ramsay. "They're going to have some sharp people on this."

By contrast, Ramsay said the GNWT is primarily sending senior bureaucrats, bringing in power and resource experts on a "case-by-case basis."

"There's no continuity there."

In the legislative assembly Feb. 10, Premier Floyd Roland, who is also the minister responsible for the power corporation (NTPC), repeated his stance that this proposal is still in the early stages - too early to worry about who is being sent to the table.

"We're going to have this initial review done, bring a report back to myself and I can go to cabinet and then to members and decide if we should pursue this to the next level," he said.

Roland's office did not respond to requests from News/North for comment.

Calgary-based ATCO has assets worth $8.5 billion worldwide. It provides power to 10,000 customers in Yellowknife and the North Slave region through its subsidiary, Northland Utilities, as well as thousands of customers in the Yukon, through the Yukon Electrical Company.

Former Great Slave MLA and one-time director at NTPC Bill Braden, adding to previous comments, said examining inefficiencies in the corporation is more prudent than off-loading it entirely in a merger.

Via email, he called the Public Utilities Board Act flawed, questioning the money frequently spent on reviews.

"Why does it take some $2 million, every two years or so, to figure out power rates for ... customers in the NWT? That's nuts, " he wrote. "Virtually all of that cost is passed back on to the customer."

Ramsay, for his part, emphasized importance of the reviews - and the sooner the better - to root out inefficiency and see as much money goes back to customers as possible.

"A new review isn't scheduled for another three years," he said. "People can't afford to wait that long when their power bills are up 30, 40 per cent - and it's doubly hard when oil is under $40 a barrel."

He said these rate increases in the face of dropping energy prices, which are hard to justify to the average customer, could have dire effects on the territory.

"People are up and leaving, is what's happening - and that's in Yellowknife," he said. "It's even worse in smaller communities."