Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, colleagues. The Snare Forks Hydroelectric Facility has been reported as having a bearing failure, and now the public reports on this say the unit will be offline for several months, which represents a loss of 4.3 megawatts of power, approximately 15 per cent of the hydro system's total generating capacity. My question to the Minister responsible for the Power Corporation is: what will be the impact of this technical failure on the cost of living of Northerners and the power rates that rate payers are paying? Thank you.
Minister responsible for the NWT Power Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, looking after the best interests of people in the Northwest Territories is what this government is all about. The impact on electricity cost is not known at this time. Any impact on NTPC cost is expected to be mitigated by the insurance claim.
Thank you to the Minister for that reassurance. The estimate of these repairs, regardless of what that is going to be, the final of these repairs, the insurance claim is going to cover that? Is that the department's best estimation at this point?
Mr. Speaker, my understanding is that there is a team that is flying in to do an inspection and determine the next steps. I would assume that cost would be the next step and then, once the costs are determined, then I would assume they have a discussion with the insurance company as to see what would be covered.
Once we have that more detailed information, I will share it with committee if it is their wish.
That covers the mechanical aspects of repairing this issue, but there will be more costs required for the backup diesel system. Can the Minister speak to what the equivalent cost to generate the loss of 15 per cent of power through diesel is? Is he aware of those numbers now? Can he share them with the House?
Mr. Speaker, the insurance is expected to cover some of the costs associated with equipment failure, including the need to increase diesel consumption. We do have sufficient backup there, diesel and hydro backup to keep the unit operating.
Again, this just happened, I believe, Monday or just recently. Tuesday, October 9th, it just happened, so we are just in the process of doing an inspection and determining what associated costs might be tied to the failure. Again, as soon as we have those numbers or estimates of numbers and what it may cost, we will share that with committee.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the Minister for providing us with information. I know it's a live event, and I see there is still a lot of work that needs to be done, but if he could just reassure taxpayers that, if there are costs not covered by the insurance, the government will carry the burden of that so that we are not putting the cost back onto our citizens. Thank you.
Although that is good brochure material, I can't make that commitment right now to have the government cover the cost. We will have to determine what the costs are going to be, and then we will make a determination then what it may cost the ratepayers, if any, but I can't make that commitment right now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
