Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to our Premier, Floyd Roland, who is the Minister responsible for the NWT Power Corp. I’d like to ask our Premier today: have the power rates in the Northwest Territories ever gone down?
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Hon. Premier, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When the NWT Power Corporation goes before the Public Utilities Board, it does put in for requests, whether it’s a general rate rider or a rate application and approval. There are times when within the PUB’s overview of what’s being asked, rate riders are put in place. When those rate riders come to their time allocation, they’re backed out of the equation.
For example, the ones that are being looked for now are looking at a timeline of potentially 18 months. They potentially have the impact of about $12 on the average consumer across the Northwest Territories. There’s the example of when it goes down, but the general trend has been upward.
I didn’t really hear the answer. I heard that if the rate rider they want doesn’t get approved, it has to be taken back. It’s seen as a shell game that appears as if it went down, but it didn’t. My question really is, once again: have the actual base rates, including the riders, et cetera, over the long term actually gone up or gone down?
Maybe the Member’s cold is affecting his hearing.
I did say that the long term has been a general trend upward through that. When the Power Corporation, for example, Mr. Speaker, goes out for a resupply on fuel in our most remote northern communities, we end up paying the price at delivery. Then when we don’t have enough dollars to meet the requirements, we have to put an application in for general rate application changes.
Over the years the trend has been, as with everything else in the North, a higher cost, whether it’s employees we have to pay because we need to keep them on site or the cost of fuel or replacement of assets that either come into disrepair through age or fire sometimes.
Mr. Speaker, now that we’ve clearly defined that power rates haven’t gone down, wouldn’t you think that management bonuses would be tied or reflective of the direction that the rate is going?
Let’s draw a direct comparison to the Government of the Northwest Territories and our public service. The fact is that every year it costs us more money. Whether or not there’s an increased workload, a new negotiated settlement drives up our costs. Those that are within the purview or the benefit of that are affected.
Some people are not within that, so we make these allowances so that they’re adjusted. But we have a competitive process we need to be in, and we try to adjust accordingly. The Power Corporation, as I stated earlier, has gone outside to review how it deals with the merit pay situation. Again, because they are at arm’s length, part of that process is incorporated under reviewing the costs of doing business with the PUB when they do go forward for substantiation of increased costs.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Why aren’t bonuses tied to rate increases? In other words, if rate increases keep going up, why do bonuses keep going up? Why do bonuses keep getting awarded?
For the record I should state that in my initial takeover of this file I have asked the question about bonuses and what’s being done and have requested further information.
The simple fact is that when you look at corporations across the country, there are processes in place that are governed by policies that are established on what can and can’t be done. I can share in the discontent of Members of this House with the board to say that should be one of the last things that gets reviewed, but it is part of a process that’s been in place for years. We have to be competitive in what we’re trying to do.
As we’re doing this — and I’ll commit to Members here — the whole process of how we deliver energy, through electrical generation to delivery to the structure of the Power Corporation…. I met with the board and I told them that the fact we’re passing on the cost of living to individuals means we can’t leave any rock unturned in reviewing how we deliver programs and deliver electricity in the Northwest Territories. I’ve passed that message on, and we’re going to have a look at how we do things in the Northwest Territories around power generation and delivery.
