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TETLIT'ZHEH/FORT MCPHERSON - Two Fort McPherson businessmen say their electricity bills are skyrocketing out of control and they're looking for a government subsidy program similar to the one offered to Delta residents.

Erwin Kamenz and John Bursey operate Fort McPherson Tent and Canvas and the Tetlit Co-op respectively in the community. Both are paying thousands of dollars in monthly electricity bills they say are severely restricting the way they do business.

Currently, the government offers a power subsidy program for small business owners outside of Yellowknife with gross revenue of $2 million or less. Customers are charged the lower city rate for the first 1,000 kw-h used. But customers must make an application to the government in order to qualify. Bursey, who manages the community Co-op, said the store makes more than the $2 million threshold and doesn't qualify.

Last month its electricity bill was more than $10,000. Sometimes it's as high as $14,000. He said those extreme costs are translated into higher grocery prices.

"A can of Carnation, instead of being $1.99, it has to be $2.49. It's brutal doing business in the North. It's terrible," said Bursey.

This winter its board of directors decided not to open the Co-op restaurant because of the high cost of electricity.

He says many businesses in the North have gross revenues more than the $2 million but are still struggling because of several factors, including the high cost of energy and shipping as well as high wages.

"What are we supposed to do - keep our business at $2 million so we can get a subsidy?" said Bursey.

"The government is doing nothing for us. We try to pay the bills the best we can, but we really need a break on electricity like the one being offered to residents."

The government provides a subsidy to territory residents living outside Yellowknife in which they pay the same amount for electricity as city users for the first 700 kw-h. Unlike the commercial subsidy program, no application is needed to qualify.

Vaughan Slade, spokesman for NWT Power Corporation, said most customers stay within the 700 kw-h threshold and generally end up splitting their bill 50/50 with the government.

Kamenz is one of those business owners who qualifies for the commercial subsidy program. He said it translates into one free month of electricity, amounting to a total of $3,500 savings annually. Considering his annual power bill amounts to $42,000 a year, that's only an eight per cent savings.

The Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment released a discussion paper last December titled A Review of Electricity Regulation, Rates and Subsidy Programs in the Northwest Territories. Addressing, in part, the future of electricity subsidy programs in the territory, it considers whether the 1,000 kw-h commercial threshold is too low. It also states only three per cent of businesses in the NWT are eligible for the program.

In 2008, the GNWT spent $10 million on the residential subsidy program compared to only $250,000 on the commercial one, the report states.

The commercial subsidy program is advertised by the government as a tool to promote "equitable rates for power consumption." Like Bursey, Kamenz said if the government is serious about doing this it would implement a program proportional to the one it offers residents.

Kamenz said if the subsidy were higher he would consider reducing merchandise prices, and definitely invest in more advertising and attend more trade shows. He said small businesses help keep taxpayers in the territory and should be helped more.

"The costs just keeps on piling up, which makes it difficult to do business in the North," he said.

Premier Floyd Roland, who is also the minister responsible for the Northwest territories Power Corporation, said the issue of implementing a new commercial subsidy program is under review.

Roland said this month's budget will include "several things that deal with energy issues across the North." But he said there's only so much the government can do.

"It all costs money to put these programs in place," said Roland. "When you don't have money, and you don't want to increase taxes, where do you get it from? It costs money and that's what we're going to have to wrestle with."