Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we all know, power is an essential service that we all depend on, from heating our homes to turning our lights on, to maintain the community infrastructure and, more importantly, to generate the economic value we have by way of purchasing.
The Northwest Territories Power Corporation has a system of establishing rates by what we call community-based rates, better known as postage stamp rates, which means every community that has a power generating system, regardless if it’s Northland Utilities or Northwest Territories Power Corporation, has to be assessed in regard to power rates. That costs in the range of $3 million to $5 million every two to four years.
Mr. Speaker, communities such as Colville Lake and Tsiigehtchic, which are paying in excess of $2 per kilowatt — in the case of Colville Lake it is $2.85 per kilowatt…. It’s not economically viable for one community the size of Colville Lake or Tsiigehtchic to be able to sustain the power usage in that community without realizing there has to be a better system out there.
Most jurisdictions in Canada have switched to what we call a levelized rate, in which the power is based on different types of power generation, be it diesel, hydro or other ways of generating power. This government has to seriously consider levelized rates, regardless of whether it’s going to be a rate for the Beaufort-Delta region, the Sahtu or the Deh Cho. All diesel communities will be on one rate system; the hydro communities would be on one rate system. We have to look at the savings this will bring forward.
Mr. Speaker, this government spends in excess of $9 million subsidizing power throughout the Norwest Territories. By reinvesting the $9 million and the $3 million we spent in regard to rate application, $12 million dollars could be reinvested in new energy projects such as hydro, wind, solar. I think it’s something this government has to take seriously in regard to where we spend our money.
Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time I will be asking the Minister responsible for the Public Utilities Board questions on this matter.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
