Power customers may see refund
If diesel prices remain low then a refund rider may be applied for, says NTPC official
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
If diesel prices remain low there is a possibility its customers will see a refund on their electricity bills. Numbers released last week by the NWT Bureau of Statistics show that the price of fuel oil and other fuels, including diesel, have fallen 26 per cent since December 2014.
The territorial government has spent $50 million over the past two years to subsidize the additional purchase of diesel by the power corp. as a result of low water. The government said the diesel was needed to generate power and avoid a rate hike because water levels were too low for the Snare and Bluefish hydro electric plants to operate at full capacity. However, according to Pam Coulter, spokesperson for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation, it is not from that money that customers could expect a refund.
"The money that we received from the GNWT for that was only for extra fuel that we used as a result of low water. At Jackfish we needed to run our diesel (generators) a lot more because we didn't have as much water. Any money left over (from the $50 million) would go back to the government."
Coulter explained that the corporation uses what's known as a fuel stabilization fund to absorb fluctuations in the price of diesel so that when diesel prices are higher, costs are not passed on to customers every month.
"The fuel stabilization fund is a tracking fund or deferral account that tracks the difference between the cost of fuel at the time rates are set and how much the fuel actually costs at the time we receive it," Coulter stated in an e-mail. "Once a deficit (in the fund) reaches a certain point -maximum $2.5 million - then NTPC applies to the PUB (Public Utility Board) for a rate rider to recoup the funds from our customers. The last rate rider was added in May 2014 and removed last fall."
Now, according to Coulter, because of the low price of diesel, the exact opposite of that process may take place.
"If fuel prices continue to remain lower ... and the fund reaches a point where a refund is feasible, NTPC will apply to the PUB to add a refund rider to customers' bills," Coulter said.
She added that there has been a refund rider in the past but it was many years ago. She was not able to predict how close the power corp. might be to a rate refund.
"The price of diesel changes every day," she said. "It depends on which day we pay for it, which day we don't, when we burn it,
when we don't."
