Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Granted the issue of power rates and how those rates are arrived at are a complicated matter, but I’d like to quote from unedited Hansard from yesterday in the House. I’m quoting Minister Miltenberger. “One of the big factors in Yellowknife and Hay River, plus a couple of small communities, is that there is another power distributor, NUL. While we provide and sell power at wholesale rates, the provider in these communities adds their own costs on top of that, which is why there is such a distinct difference...”
Mr. Miltenberger’s comments imply that there is a different rate structure in Hay River and in Yellowknife, when in fact the cost of power is arrived at on a cost-to-service basis. That’s the type of industry this is and all rates are developed and approved by the Public Utilities Board. All communities in the Northwest Territories are rate-based on the cost of service, and these costs are highly scrutinized to ensure that they’re eligible and these rates are approved by the PUB.
Could the Minister please clarify or confirm that this is in fact the case? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Power Corporation puts in general rate applications based on thermal zone and hydro zone. They generate and distribute. Northland Utilities operates and distributes, they don’t generate, and they look at their business on a community-by-community basis. Thank you.
On this community-by-community basis, the rates are set and the Public Utilities Board examines the cost of delivering that service and approves those rates. Thank you.
Yes, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, another issue that seems to have been brought into this is the issue of the franchise fee. I just happen to have my Yellowknife power bill here. It clearly states in here what the franchise fee is about. Franchise fee is a flow-through fee that is approved by the Public Utilities Board that allows, in tax-based municipalities, the service provider to avoid paying a tax on the land or the infrastructure where transmission is located and then this cost is paid directly to the community by the service provider.
I will quote Mr. Miltenberger again, he said, “I will indicate clearly right now one of the big costs that Yellowknife has, that Hay River has and Fort Smith doesn’t have, is the franchise arrangements and the costs that flow from that arrangement that communities make on their own call, because of their franchise fee...”
Again, these franchise fees, I’d like the Minister to confirm, are agreed to between the service provider and the community and approved by the Public Utilities Board. Thank you.
The NTPC rate zone cost for residential for all communities is 18.73 cents. The wholesale rate to NUL in Hay River is 9.66 cents. The Northland Utilities power rate in Hay River is 31.26 cents. But, yes, those are all agreed to by the communities. The communities make their decision and it’s all approved through the regulatory process. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess the point I’m trying to make here today – and I guess I’ll just ask the Minister this one last question – is that it’s not really fair to imply that there is something untoward or unregulated about the rates that Northland Utilities… It’s like yesterday in the House there was, to me, an unfair comparison made between communities serviced by NTPC versus NUL.
I would just like the Minister to confirm, for the record, that these rates are fairly set, based on the cost of service, and regulated by the Public Utilities Board which this government oversees. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, we’re going to provide the information to the Members. It lays out some of the information I quoted here and the different rates by community. But, yes, there is a process by which they’re arrived at. Yes, some communities have chosen to deal with Northland Utilities versus NTPC. They negotiate their arrangement with the franchise fee. All that is done through due process. There’s nothing untoward about it. But we will lay out the information and the rates so that we can respond to the request from the Member and Mr. Hawkins, and we will provide that to the House and to the committee. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
