AKLAVIK
Public outcry in the hamlet of Aklavik last week prevented fuel prices from rising another 14 cents but it is unclear how long the respite will last.
Since Beaufort Delta Petroleum took over as fuel provider for the community in August of last year, Aklavik has seen a 33 per cent jump in price at the pumps - $1.60 to $1.99 in just six months.
Hamlet mayor Charles Furlong told News/North he received a notification on Jan. 11 from Northwest Company, the community's fuel distributor, stating prices would climb to $2.13 the following day. He said the Northern Store almost immediately started to receive phone calls from protesting residents and a subsequent conversation between the store's manager and the corporate office in Winnipeg resulted in a temporary price freeze.
"Of course (Northern Store) has to recoup their cost of purchasing. They try to be accommodating but accommodating is not enough for the people's pocket books," he said, adding many people have been taking jerry cans to Inuvik and stocking up on fuel there where prices hover around $1.60.
"People are being very strategic if they're going over there for business or medical, they do their shopping and bring extra jerry cans and fill them up."
Beaufort Delta Petroleum general manager Susan Eveleigh said the Inuvik-based company is not responsible for the price hike in Aklavik.
"We sell bulk to NorthMart at a much lower price than what's being charged now in Aklavik, but we cannot control how they regulate their prices," she said. "We did not raise our prices and we're not going to raise our prices so whatever they do, that's all NorthMart."
Mackenzie Delta MLA Frederick Blake said the GNWT is currently preparing to take over as the fuel provider in the community since Beaufort Delta Petroleum has indicated it may halt its services this year.
"(The GNWT) anticipated they will most likely pull out of the community some time this year and it's just a matter of when they do," Blake told News/North. "Our government figured it would be sometime this year that they'll shut down providing services so they're sort of trying to prepare for that."
In October, Blake brought a petition signed by over 100 residents from the 600-person community to the legislative assembly, calling for the Department of Public works to find a new fuel provider.
The petition was signed by home owners, members of community government, recreational vehicle users and hunters and trappers. Furlong says trappers and business owners in particular are feeling the pinch at the pumps.
"Trapping might be jeopardized if people can't go out on the land as much as they'd want to, to hunt for game or make that extra dollar from trapping and it affects the small businesses of course - they need that gas too," he said. "They've got to understand with no economy in the Beaufort Delta and nothing in the foreseeable future, people are just scraping by with whatever they can."
Aklavik is currently a "market" community, which means a private company sells fuel in the community, rather than the GNWT.
John Vandenberg, assistant deputy minister of energy, said the GNWT cannot enter a community where a private fuel supplier is operating, adding if Beaufort Delta Petroleum discontinued its service another private company would likely take its place.
"There's certainly no mechanism for us to go in and try to disrupt or usurp the role of a private sector fuel supplier in any community," he said. "Typically the government wouldn't step in unless it was established there were no market players from the private sector who would be willing to do business."
He said the company has not approached his department with plans to leave the hamlet.
"It sounds like a rumour," he said. "(Beaufort Delta Petroleum) has not expressed to me that they would be departing or not doing business this year."
The Department of Public Works' fuel services division manages fuel distribution, including purchase, transport and storage in 16 "non-market" communities - those with no private fuel retailer. Local contractors then sell and distribute fuel to residents and businesses in these places. However, fuel prices in these communities are not substantially lower. Residents in communities such as Tsiigehtchic and Sachs Harbour were paying $1.82 and $1.88 per litre respectively in November. Fuel prices are determined by the GNWT financial management board.
Furlong said the potential for Aklavik to become a non-market community was discussed during the 17th assembly, but will need to be brought back to the legislative assembly again this spring.
"I believe in competition," he said. "I hope that somebody comes in and stabilizes the prices or as a second choice, the government declares this community non-market and provides a subsidy for those products."
On Jan. 13 gas prices in Yellowknife ranged from $1.06 to $1.13 while in Edmonton they dipped as low as 72.9 cents per litre. The national average last week hovered around 94.2 cents.
Representatives from Northwest Company did not respond to an interview request by press time.
