Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Fort Simpson (Apr 28/00) - Fort Simpson village council may have selected a new power company last week but the NWT Power Corp. believes it's still in the running to provide electricity to the community.

President and CEO of the Northwest Territories Power Corporation Leon Courneya says that as the incumbent, the company hopes to continue to generate and distribute power in the community.

"We still think after it goes through the more rigorous review process for the PUB (public utilities board) to set a rate, we will come out as the lowest cost generator of power in Fort Simpson," said Courneya.

Alternatively, the Power Corp. would settle for the distribution role alone, according to Courneya.

"Any distributor will want to buy power from the cheapest possible source. We hope we're that source, but if we weren't we'd want to buy it from whoever was," he said.

In Norman Wells, for example, the Power Corp. has a power plant but they purchase power from a generating station operated at a lower cost through the use of natural gas, he said.

As for the fate of the nine regional Power Corp. employees, Courneya said it's too soon to know what the future holds for them. Also unknown is whether NTPC's regional office will remain in Fort Simpson.

"We have to sit down and talk to the mayor to find out what's involved here ... that will determine where employees are located and how many there are going to be," he said.

A meeting between Power Corp. officials and Fort Simpson Mayor Norm Prevost has been scheduled for May 3, he added.

Last week village council selected Calgary-based Jupiter Power International Inc. to generate the community's power.

However, that decision is conditional upon approval from the PUB and approval from residents through a plebiscite.