Nathan VanderKlippe
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Sep 11/02) - The price of power will jump at least 25 per cent in Yellowknife if the NWT Power Corp. gets its way.

Just days after NTPC filed its latest rate application, city politicians and business people are gearing up for a fight. The chamber of commerce called the rate proposal a "tax increase."

Judith Goucher: All Northerners would share equally in the cost of providing power

Last Friday, NTPC asked permission to apply a single power rate for the entire territory in the second phase of its general rate application. If passed, the price of power in Yellowknife would jump to 23.21 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) for residential customers and 21.01 cents per kWh for commercial users.

Under existing rates, a Yellowknife resident using 750 kWh a month pays 18.48 cents per kWh. A commercial user with a 200 kW demand and 80,000 kWh usage pays 16.20 cents per kWh.

The new rates are estimated user prices, and NTPC is hoping Northland Utilities will adopt similar rates. However, the price for power to Yellowknife and Hay River users will be determined by Northland Utilities.

The new rates need to be passed by the NWT Public Utilities Board.

The first phase of the rate application has already been approved and allows the company revenue of $63.5 million in 2001-02, and $66.6 million in 2002-03.

"With levelized rates, all Northerners share equally in the cost of providing power throughout the territory, resulting in greater equity and sustainability," said Judith Goucher, the company's chief financial officer.

Power rates are currently assessed by community. Users in communities linked to hydro-electric power, like Yellowknife, pay less than towns that depend on diesel generators for electricity.

"We are totally opposed to a flat rate," said Dave McPherson, president of the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce. "This is a territorial tax increase which will have ripple effects through the economy."

Yellowknife Mayor Gord Van Tighem said if approved, the increase would double the price of electricity in Yellowknife from where it was two years ago. That could discourage people from moving here, he said.

The application also sparked protest among environmentalists. A one-rate system encourages people in diesel-powered communities to use more while discouraging use in communities like Yellowknife and Hay River, which use hydro-electricity, said one energy lobbyist.

The primary beneficiary of the plan would be the GNWT, the sole shareholder in NTPC. The territorial government currently runs a power support program which subsidizes the cost of the first 700 kW of electricity for each household to Yellowknife base rates.

This year, the program will cost $7 million.

Meanwhile, NTPC has begun an effort to get win support of small communities. Goucher and company spokesman Peter Watt were in Inuvik Tuesday. Workshops are also planned in Norman Wells and Fort Simpson.

John Hill, PUB chairperson, said a decision on the rate application should be made early in the new year.