N.W.T. Power Corp applies to lower rates for Yellowknife
Proposes 2.6% drop in price it charges Northland Utilities for electricity
The Northwest Territories Power Corporation has applied to lower the rate it charges distributor Northland Utilities for electricity in Yellowknife.
It's proposing lowering the price to 18.71 cents per kilowatt hour from 19.21 cents, a decrease of 2.6 per cent. Northland Utilities distributes power to businesses and residents in the city.
"We will pass that on to customers," said Doug Tenney, vice president of Northern development for Northland Utilities. "That's standard practice."
It's one of a number of changes for which the power corporation has applied to the Public Utilities Board.
It's also asking to lower the price per kilowatt hour for business clients in Behchoko and Dettah to 31.82 cents from 38.29 cents, a decrease of 17 per cent.
To make up for these decreases, the power corporation wants to increase what it charges the federal government for the power it uses at the Giant Mine remediation site.
Pam Coulter, a spokesperson for the power corporation, says the territorial government, which owns the power corporation, is not allowed to increase any rates by more than one per cent — except the rates for industrial customers.
The federal government, which owns the Giant Mine property, is the territorial government's only industrial customer.
The power corporation says all communities would benefit from a lowered power rate in Yellowknife because the subsidized rates used for the Territorial Power Support Program — which all N.W.T. residents are automatically covered under — are based on Yellowknife's rate.