Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Do I have further comments or questions on pages 388 and 389? Seeing none, we will move to the information item on page 390. Active positions, under energy. Comments or questions? Seeing none, we move back to page 387, energy, operations, expenditure summary. Questions on this page? Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I am assuming this is the part of the department's budget where there would be funding to prepare a plan to get all the communities of the Northwest Territories off diesel. Is that where that sort of funding would be found? Is that something that the department is working on? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.
I will let Mr. Guy answer that. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Guy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes. The Member is correct. This is the page where that type of work would be funded. Within the contract services, we have some funding allocated this year to do our Energy Plan for the territories. That type of initiative around reducing reliance on diesel would be addressed through that plan. I think planning work for that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Guy. Mr. O'Reilly.
No. Thanks.
Nothing further from Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Because I didn't see it anywhere else and we are about to close this section or this division on energy, I just wonder if the department could please provide us with the status of the Net Metering Program? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Minister.
Thank you. I will let Mr. Guy answer that as well.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Guy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. There is a Net Metering Program in place that allows residents to install renewable systems on their home and net meter up to 5 kilowatts, I believe, is the limit. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Guy. Mr. Vanthuyne.
My apologies, Mr. Chair. I just didn't hear Mr. Guy on the last part of his comment there. Thank you. If he could repeat it, it would be appreciated. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Mr. Guy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. There is a Net Metering Program in place that allows residents to install renewable technology in their homes and net meter. I believe the limit is 5 kilowatts. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Guy. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Five kilowatts. Again, in my ignorance, Mr. Chair, five kilowatts, is this a per hourly-type rate? What is this? For clarification, could I get an explanation? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Mr. Guy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Five kilowatts would be the production output of the renewable technology, the solar panels for example, how much they could feed back into the system on a continuous basis. So 5 kilowatts per hour. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Guy. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Nothing further, Mr. Chair. Thank you for the explanation.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That brings up a question that was certainly a very live one here during the election campaign last year, and that is whether there would be a move and maybe it is not the right department, but a move to enable the municipalities to create a revolving fund for energy upgrades of the kind that have solar panels all over the roof. Is this the right department for that? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Mr. Guy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I believe that is the initiative through the Cities, Towns and Villages Act that would allow local improvement processes to be put in place where residents could borrow money through the city and have it recovered on the taxes. That piece of legislation falls in Municipal and Community Affairs. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Guy. Ms. Green.
Thank you for that clarification.
Nothing further from Ms. Green. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Just on this subject of net metering. Although we have that policy in place for it, people that build up credits, they lose them at the end of the year. So it is not really a very good policy. And I don't think it goes far enough in terms of encouraging people to become more self-sufficient. Is the department looking at developing a better policy when it comes to net metering? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Those are the kinds of issues that we will be looking at when we do the new Energy Plan. All of the alternative energy, anything that we are doing within that scope, will be reviewed and considerations will be made in the new plan that we bring forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate getting that commitment from the Minister. The net metering is going to be within the scope of the Energy Plan. I know there are a number of solar projects that were installed here in households in Yellowknife over the last year. I am sure those people are going to be quite interested to hear that. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Would the Minister like to respond?
Thank you. I will take that as a comment.
Thank you, Minister. Further questions on page 387? Seeing no questions, having no one on my list, I will call the page. Public Works and Services, energy, operations expenditure summary, activity total, $9,060,000. Agreed?
Agreed.
Committee agrees. We will move on to Technology Service Centre. The activity total is on page 392, but we will discuss the detail on page 393. Questions on page 393, TSC, chargeback. Seeing none, we can move on. Page 394, TSC, active positions. Questions, TSC, active positions. Seeing none, we can move back to page 392, TSC, operations expenditure summary. Questions? Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. In the activity description, it indicates the technological service centre, TSC, provides information, technology services, and support to GNWT departments and some health authorities. Which health authorities is the department servicing? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will let Laurie speak to that one.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Gault.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We are currently in progress for supporting all of the health authorities. The remaining authorities are Hay River, Yellowknife Health Authority, and Tlicho. We just completed Tlicho. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Gault. Mr. Testart.
The objective is to service all the public agencies in the Northwest Territories. Is that correct? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Ms. Gault.
Yes, that is correct.
