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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The number of power outages have climbed over the last year and so has the price of electricity.

The price of power rose by 8.7 per cent from August 2011 to last month - the highest increase reported in the consumer price index recorded by the NWT Bureau of Statistics.

Emanuel DeRosa, president and chief executive officer of the Northwest Territories Power Corporation, said power outages in Yellowknife have increased by 30 per cent in the last 12 months as compared to the year before during a press conference on Sept 19.

The higher percentage in electrical costs is largely due to the seven per cent rate increase introduced by the Northwest Territories Power Corporation in April.

The remaining 1.7 per cent is due to changes in riders, which are price adjustments that often reflect temporary credits or debits on all customer electricity bills.

The frequency of power outages in the city has had many Yellowknifers up in arms, with several hundred joining a Facebook group entitled "Yellowknifers want power ... OR MONEY."

The outages have also been the impetus for the power corp's 18-point action plan to improve the reliability of the system into Yellowknife and to reduce power outages by 70 per cent by 2015.

"Obviously we're not satisfied with the performance here recently," said Brendan Bell, chairman for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation. "We've got a plan in place and we're going to work to reduce that."

Also keeping the power corp. busy is the general rate application currently before the NWT Public Utilities Board. A public hearing regarding the application was held in Yellowknife Wednesday and Thursday this week. Due to rising fuel costs and costly capital improvements, the power corp. is asking for a 29-per-cent rate increase over four years.

"Long-term, we need to go to the ratepayers for an increase," said Bell. "The cost of fuel is a big increase for us. We have to make some capital improvements which need to be factored into rates.

"It's not the entire cost of doing business ... government is heavily going to subsidize that."

The largest capital cost is the Bluefish Dam replacement project, estimated at $37.4 million and nearly half the power corporation's capital cost.

The territorial government is contributing $33.8 million over three years to allow a gradual introduction of the rate increase.

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