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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The chairperson for the NWT Public Utilities Board expects a 9.5 per cent rate hike on electricity bills over three years will be approved next month.

Joe Acorn, chairperson of the board, which oversees all utilities in the territory, said an announcement on rate increases for electricity is expected at the end of October.

A rate increase of 4.3 per cent is expected for 2008, 2.9 per cent for 2009 and 2.3 per cent for 2010.

Northland Utilities, the company that supplies Yellowknife with power, has to file a rate application with the utilities board that is broken into two phases.

"Phase one determines how much revenue the company is allowed to make as a whole," said Acorn. "Phase two determines, based on how much we say they can earn, how they plan to collect from the ratepayers."

Acorn said the rate increases aren't too far out of line based on increases in costs elsewhere.

"Fuel costs have been going up so much," he said. "Even though we are mostly on hydro here, there is a certain amount of diesel fuel usage in Yellowknife. As well as increases in labour costs and construction costs, these rates make sense.

"It's not really a significant increase. "

Phase one, although not officially approved, will allow Northland Utilities to earn $32.7-million in 2008, $33.5-million in 2009 and $34.5-million in 2010. These are approximate totals, barring any changes the board decides on before releasing its decision. Acorn doesn't expect them to change significantly.

Phase two is expected to be approved not too long after phase one. Acorn said public meetings scheduled for this past week were cancelled because the two parties, Northland and the city, didn't have any major disagreements with the points laid out.

"They agreed to seven changes including removing a $50 charge Northland wanted to implement for billing disputes," Acorn said.