Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my Member’s statement was regarding the power outages in Inuvik and the implementation of purchasing different microwaves, TVs and that for the community. Can the Minister tell me about the compensation policy at the Power Corporation that provided residents of Inuvik with payments for these damages?
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Power Corporation, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Power Corporation does have a claims policy in place that is available to every community as different things affect outages or problems. There have been many claims put in from different customers across the North. The reason that Inuvik is one that has been publicized is because it hit a large part of the community as a result of the outage and an overvoltage situation that fried many of the power bars and so on. In fact, when I was up in Inuvik it occurred and I happened to be in my office when my office one went out as well. Because it hit such a large part of the community and it wasn’t isolated to one subdivision or another, it was a large part of the community, that’s the only reason it has gone as public as it has. I will get a copy of the claims process and provide that to all Members.
Can the Minister tell me that the residents of other communities all across the Territory, such as Paulatuk... I mean, we had the same issues over the last few years and once they did try to claim, they went so fast and persistent in giving the same service into the communities. Can the Minister tell me the residents of communities that are able to participate in this program?
The residents of the Territories are eligible for this program if there is a claim or something that has occurred that caused the equipment failure in their residences or businesses. There is a process of evaluating those, and approvals that are in place, but I’ll get that policy and provide that to Members.
Can the Minister provide some background on the compensation policy? When it was started, how many times it’s been used, what’s the cost? How much money is it going to cost the Power Corporation to provide all the purchasing of all this stuff in Inuvik?
As I said, I’ll provide that claim process as well as get the update on the impact of the outage and the resulting overvoltage situation. I will provide that. The corporation holds an insurance package that allows for this to be dealt with in that manner as well.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister tell me, when something like this happens in small communities and the Power Corporation in Inuvik, what’s the outreach that the Power Corporation Inuvik office is doing to help community members?
Again, I will provide that and it will all be spelled out in the policy what the members are able to claim for. The process that they go through when making a claim will be spelled out, we’ll get that information.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
