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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - While the majority of Northerners are being burdened by higher power bills, southern lawyers who are arguing on behalf of ratepayers, the Northwest Territories Power Corporation and Northland Utilities are raking in cash, all of which will be recovered from ratepayers.

A lawyer who argued on behalf of the city of Yellowknife, however, said his intervention saved city ratepayers more than $1 million.

During the power corporation's latest general rate application, lawyers hired to argue on behalf of the city of Yellowknife, Hay River and Fort Providence, and other diesel and hydro communities took home more than $266,000.

Interveners from the same communities during Northland Utilities hearings took home almost $200,000.

The Northwest Territories Power Corporation spent $178,000 U.S. on Kathleen McShane and her staff for their legal representation during the hearings, according to a letter from hydro communities to the board dated Aug. 31, 2007.

Interveners are paid to represent communities and their ratepayers in hearings to argue against what are viewed as unfair requests from the utility company or power corporation.

The public utilities board - created by the government in 1988 to regulate public utilities in the NWT - approves interveners' costs when it sees the lawyers "made a significant contribution which was relevant to the proceeding and which lead to a better understanding by all parties of the issues before the board" and "represented the interests of a substantial number of ratepayers."

Northland Utilities is spending an estimated $433,000 to have its rate application heard. This amount covers their own legal costs, intervener and advertising costs and is eventually recovered from ratepayers, as part of the application process.

Carl Bird, director of corporate services with the city of Yellowknife, said there was no way to quantify whether the city was saving its ratepayers the $81,236.05 paid to Thomas D. Marriott, of Edmonton, Alta. and consultants he worked with to represent them in a Northland Utilities hearing.

"We certainly benefit from having knowledgeable people intervening on our behalf when NUL or NTPC are requesting rate reviews," he said.

Marriott said interveners in that hearing saved ratepayers more than $1.35 million.

"We were able to go through the application, analyze it and come up with reasons why the utility could scrape along with less revenue requirement than they were asking for," he said.

"So you're getting a more than 10-to-1 bang for your buck," he said.

The city does not give the intervener any direction, but is consulted throughout the intervener's work and signs off on arguments they plan to make.

"They don't need us to give them any direction on how to proceed or what things to look at," Bird said, adding the lawyers are extremely well-versed at what they do.

In the event the utility board does not approve the lawyer's expenses, the city is on the hook to absorb those costs, said Bird, although it has never happened to his knowledge.

Derek Lindsay, mayor of Inuvik, said interveners send communities and the utility board their expenses and the board sends a response detailing what is allowed.

"It holds consultants to some sort of a tight rein as to what they can charge and what they can't charge," he said.

"It's not a licence to print money and it shouldn't be."

Lindsay said the amount paid to interveners "depends on what company you hire and how exorbitantly they bill."

The utilities board has not approved all requested expenses over the past two years.

The board told Northland Utilities to lower its legal counsel fees from $600 per hour down to $350 per hour, for its general rate application.

Joe Acorn, chairman of the Public Utilities Board, said the extra $250 per hour would come out of the utility company's profits, adding expenses like that could not justify future power rate increases.

The board also denied A. O. Ackroyd of Edmonton, Alta., nearly $20,000 because he did not "actively participate" in a power corporation diesel communities hearing.

He had claimed $46,016.48 for 169.1 hours - $250 per hour - but was awarded only $26,501.77 for his work, based on preparation hours claimed.

In a hydro communities hearing, the utilities board bumped down rates for Lawrence Kryzanowski and Gordon Roberts - representing diesel communities - from $300 per hour to $250 per hour "considering the value of the assistance (they) provided to the board."

In examining utility board decisions, rates interveners charges fell from $300 to $175 per hour. The utility board capped requests at $250 per hour.

Karen Lajoie, president of the Northwest Territories Law Society, said private lawyers can charge based on their education and seniority.

"The more experience and specialized knowledge the lawyer has, the more expensive they'll be," she said, adding regulatory proceedings can be quite specialized.

Lajoie said she thought $300 per hour would not be an unreasonable amount to charge by southern standards.

Marriott, who has 20 years of experience, charged $250 per hour, which he said is less than he does in Alberta.

Acorn said the North does not have a large enough market for regulatory lawyers, which was likely why the lawyers used came from the south.

McShane also represented Northland Utilities.