SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
With Denendeh Investments Inc. tripling its ownership in Northland Utilities to 50 per cent under the terms of a new partnership agreement with ATCO, indigenous investment in the company might not be the only significant change.

Power meter outside the Northern News Services building - Cody Punter/NNSL photo

Lower bills could also be a serious shift Yellowknife residents can look forward to in the near future.

"Nowadays with new technology and other opportunities I think it's possible we can look at lowering power rates," investment corporation president Darrell Beaulieu told Yellowknifer. "We're definitely committed to that."

Last week, the First Nations-owned corporation signed a memorandum of understanding with ATCO to significantly increase its stake in the electrical company from the previous amount of 14 per cent. It is the dominant power provider in Yellowknife and Hay River.

While the cost of energy will always be a real issue, Beaulieu said his company intends to work with the city and the GNWT to figure out sustainable solutions to the problem.

"There is opportunity to look at the options and to look at increased operational efficiencies," he said, adding that equitable rates for all residents was high on the list of priorities.

However, Bobbi Lambright, president of Northland Utilities, said the large geographic nature of the company's customer base was only one of the major challenges to how rates might be lowered in the future.

"I truly don't think there's a silver bullet when it comes to something like this," the president of ATCO Electric Distribution said, citing the location of the generation source, costs of new infrastructure and government policy all contributing to a resident's price for electricity. "I think if there was we would have jumped on it by now."

The First Nations investment corporation and ATCO have been partners in Northland Utilities since 1987 but discussions about the new ownership agreement started a more than a year ago.

While the specific terms of the cash and debt used to finance the increased ownership stake were not disclosed, Beaulieu said the new terms of the partnership did allow the investment corporation to help advise other indigenous communities on how to increase their direct investment as well.

"Whether it's in utilities or the mining sector or exploration or real estate," he said. And while the investment corporation represents 27 Dene First Nations groups and 50 per cent of the indigenous population in the NWT, Beaulieu stressed the private status of the company meant there would be a higher focus on both profits and costs.

"It's going to take all of us working together here in the North and not against each other and trying to implement solutions that are sustainable," he said.

Many of the current rates for electricity are determined by the public utility board, which take into consideration the rates of generation, transmission and also distribution. But Beaulieu said that collaboration between stakeholders in the North, including the government, Northwest Territories Power Corporation and Northland Utilities was key to change actually happening.

"I think we all have to sit down and find those efficiencies and implement them."

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