.

Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A review of ATCO's proposal to merge with the Northwest Territories Power Corporation won't be completed until the government has concluded its look at energy distribution in the NWT and at the power corporation itself.

"Realistically, we are not going to have a decision on ATCO - if we are going to do anything on it - until late fall," said Drew Williams, cabinet spokesperson.

Drew Williams, the GNWT's cabinet spokesperson says ATCO's merger proposal will have to wait until late fall. - NNSL file photo

Williams said Premier Floyd Roland has assembled a committee of senior government officials and third-party consultants for a "fact-finding mission" to investigate whether ATCO's proposal is worthwhile. They were told to report to the premier by the end of the month.

"Does this have possibilities or is it even worth looking at? That's what they are going to be coming back with at the end of the month," Williams said.

ATCO, which distributes energy through Northland Utilities in the NWT, submitted a proposal to partner with the Northwest Territories Power Corporation in January.

Jerome Babyn, ATCO spokesperson, said the company was just recently contacted by the territorial government.

He said ATCO was told the government was undertaking two other energy reviews - one of electricity rates and distribution and another on the power corporation - and that ATCO's proposal would have to wait.

"It was just to clarify there are other things that are going to be done before our proposal," he said. Babyn said ATCO isn't frustrated by the delay, but he said he believes its proposal could be looked at in relation to what is also being discussed.

"Until those two things are done, I think we can appreciate that we won't be able to sit down and talk in any great detail," he said. "But we are ready to sit down at any time." While Babyn would not discuss the contents of the proposal, he said he viewed it more as a starting point for discussing a partnership with the power corporation.

"I'd see it more as a negotiation," he said "Anything is possible as far as where it goes." He said the partnership would have to prove beneficial to not only ATCO and the government, but also the residents of the NWT.

"Those are the types of discussions that we haven't been able to have," Babyn said.

He added that there has been talk of a meeting in May, where the people involved on both sides could get to know each other.

Williams framed the ATCO review as part of the larger picture of energy discussions in the NWT.

"At the end of the month we'll have a better understanding of what the possibilities may be moving forward," said Williams. "All of that will come back this fall and we'll consider all three major pieces." Babyn said, in the interim, the company is concentrating on providing input on the GNWT's energy review.