HAY RIVER - Last week's mechanical difficulties at the Northland Utilities's power plant in Hay River may be resolved for the moment but the company's manager says they're bound to happen again.

Hay River's Deputy Mayor Mike Maher: town should plan for power conservation befor hydro plant's regular maintenance. - NNSL file photo

Duane Morgan, manager for Northland Utilities in Hay River, appeared before Hay River town council on Oct. 5 to discuss the recent electrical outages and asked for council's help in evaluating what should happen next.

Hay River experienced three days of rotating blackouts as the power plant had to adjust after one of their largest generators, which provides 40 per cent of the town's electricity, failed.

Northland generators have caused problems in the past, with breakdowns in 1991 and 1998.

"It's probably going to happen again," said Morgan.

The Hay River power plant is only used when the Taltson hydro plant is offline but it was called into service for longer than usual this fall after the Northwest Territories Power Corporation (NTPC) plant experienced its own mechanical failure.

The plant underwent a two-week scheduled maintenance period in September but a turbine failed when it was to resume service.

A spokesman for NTPC told News/North last week the Taltson plant will be out of commission until the end of October. Until then, Hay River is running on diesel fuel.

"I won't mince words," Morgan said. "Diesel is expensive... Costs are soaring rapidly."

He said Northland paid $75,000 just to transport the emergency generator to Hay River.

The costs don't stop there. At 24,000 litres of diesel fuel per day, the utility company will be paying around $1 million in the next month, plus more than $300,000 to repair the broken generator. While this is offset somewhat by not having to buy electricity from NTPC, Morgan said Northland is still looking at an added bill of $800,000.

Morgan attributes part of the failure to the generator not being meant to run that long, but he said the company is considering expanding its generation capabilities.

One of Northland's six generators is already so outdated that parts have to be specially made for it. It is scheduled to be replaced in two years but buying a relatively new generator would cost $1 million.

Morgan asked council to consider the feasibility of buying a new backup generator, like the one brought in from Edmonton last week. He said although the power plant's generators aren't used often, they're crucial when they are.

"Reliance on electricity has changed. Everybody absolutely has to have it," he said, adding that many homes no longer use wood stoves and rely on electricity for sewer systems.

But the equipment is expensive and rarely used. Morgan pointed out, "they sit in standby mode almost all the time."

He said increasing the power plant's assets would mean a price hike of between one and three per cent for customers.

During the meeting, councillors also questioned the way Northland communicated with its customers.

Morgan said getting the message about the outage schedule was difficult, particularly at night and early in the morning.

Despite a fax sent out to many residents, Morgan said "very few people actually responded properly" when the company urged people to conserve electricity to lighten the town's load.

He said also said periods of darkness households experienced would have been shorter had the weather been colder. Morgan said the plan could be revised if deemed necessary.

Deputy Mayor Mike Maher said the next town council should establish a committee to look into the issue. That group will consider whether it is worth buying a new generator or changing Northland's contingency plan when Taltson is offline. The committee will also look at improving communication during an outage and before planned maintenance periods.

"We should try to convince people top start conserving power pre-Taltson (annual maintenance)," said Maher.