.
Search
Email this articleE-mail this story  Discuss this articleWrite letter to editor  Discuss this articleOrder a classified ad

One-rate power debate

Stephan Burnett
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 01/04) - The debate over power rates in the NWT is set to start up again.

Hay River MLA Jane Groenewegen introduced a motion in the Legislative Assembly to review the territorial power subsidy program on Thursday.

The motion was made to ensure the communities in the Northwest Territories which rely on diesel power do not suffer any further hardship as a result of increasing oil prices, said Groenewegen.

Groenewegen's motion only calls for a review of subsidies rather than specifically calling to bring back the one-rate proposal.

Andrew Gaule, the president of the Fort Simpson Chamber of Commerce, is in favour of a flat rate for power consumers.

Also the owner of North of 60, a training and consulting business in Fort Simpson, Gaule was one of the Power Corporation directors who were fired in 2002.

"Hydro power is a Northern power held by all the people and an application of the one rate zone would reflect that fact," said Gaule. "In the North, we have to move together under the one-house principal and there should be equity in utility rates."

He said with rising prices for crude oil, communities operating on diesel power will see a corresponding increase in fuel bills.

"The ways things are going in small communities, running a business is almost impossible," said Gaule.

Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce president Steven Meister said it will fight the flat rate proposal. If it comes through, Yellowknife businesses will be forced to subsidize power rates for businesses operating in communities which use diesel for power generation.

Two years ago the board of directors for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation was fired by Premier Stephen Kakfwi after refusing to redraw a flat rate proposal.