Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation explain if the corporation is, in fact, overcharging by 114 per cent for the costs of power delivered to Northland Utilities for resale in the Yellowknife market? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation.
Mr. Speaker, there is no basis for NUL's assumption or assertion that we are overcharging by 114 per cent. As the House will know, electricity rates and cost of service percentages are regulated by the Public Utilities Board, which is an open and thorough process. So residents here are not being overcharged. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Can the Minister also explain if the Yellowknife rates are being used to subsidize rates in other rate zones throughout the NWT?
Yellowknife rates do not subsidize those in other rate zones, such as the South Slave or the thermal communities. This could never be the case, as cost of service in one zone is not applied to other zones.
Just to return to my first question, the Minister made a comment about overcharging by 115 per cent. The reality is it's a 100 per cent rate versus 114 per cent rate. So are Yellowknifers being charged 14 per cent more than other communities?
No. Residents of Yellowknife are not being overcharged and are not paying 114 per cent of other zones. If that's the question; I'm not sure that I understood the question fully.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Either way, the rates for power generation are far too high in the Northwest Territories. Making the North a more affordable place is an important priority for me and for every Member here. Can the Minister explain what this government is doing and how it's working with the Power Corporation to reduce the high cost of electricity? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, as I'm sure Members of this House will recall, a new board of directors was put in place in the spring of this year, which in itself represented a considerable savings. If I recall, the number is approximately $1 million. The new board has been tasked with many things, but clearly they are there to examine the costs of providing power in the Northwest Territories. We are faced with certain difficulties in that the population is stable, or declining in some cases, and yet costs continue to go up. So we are working with the corporation, the board, to reduce costs. We recognize that this is an important issue. We are looking as far afield as perhaps supplying power to southern jurisdictions. So this is a primary focus of the new board, the corporation and the Minister.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
