Terry Halifax
Northern News Services

Hay River (Sep 24/01) - The struggle to find a power provider in the town of Hay River continues with a new player entering the fray.

Enbridge Inc. has sent a letter of intent to the Town of Hay River indicating their interest in pursuing the town's power franchise.

NUL has held the franchise in Hay River for the past 50 years, with the most recent contract expiring July 1, 2001.

Under the previous administration, the town had accepted two bids for the new franchise -- one from NUL and one from the Northwest Territories Power Corporation (NTPC).

Last September, the territorial government stalled the process with a review of NTPC and later withdrew the power corp's bid.

Two weeks ago, Northland Utilities (NWT) Ltd. (NUL) said received notice from the town that they would halt talks over a power franchise until the town reviewed the Enbridge proposal.

Northlands Utilities Hay River manager Duane Morgan says the town gave no explanation for calling off the negotiation.

"We gave them our proposal and the next thing we know is that Enbridge is coming down," Morgan said.

Mayor Duncan McNeill said the town saw no reason to continue talks until they heard the other offer.

"From my perspective, the town had no mandate to negotiate with NUL," McNeill said. "We were into serious discussions with them and during the course of those discussions, we received a letter from Enbridge, with a totally -- to me -- a radically different proposal."

"They want to look at handling water and sewer, and gas as well as electrical service -- they call it bundling."

Stitco Utilities currently has a contract to provide trucked and piped propane service to the town and McNeill hints that may be something to lead the town in the direction of piped gas.

"That franchise (with Stitco) is up in about four to five years," he said. "That is about the time that it would take to build a pipeline or be well underway and Enbridge is talking about bringing gas to Hay River," McNeill said.

Hay River Town Council will meet with Enbridge on Oct. 25, but the mayor is unsure if the meeting will be private or public.

Enbridge Vice-President Wayne Sartore could not be reached at press time.