Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Taltson Hydro Expansion Project is a mandate item of the GNWT. It is intended to provide clean energy to the mineral rich Slave Geological Province and eventually connect the NWT electrical grid to the south. On the department's website, the project is intended to both increase hydro generation capacity and to stabilize electricity rates for NWT residents and businesses.
A promising aspect of this mega project is that the federal government recognizes the need to update grid infrastructure across Canada. In May, the federal infrastructure minister said that they see a very clear path to funding the Taltson Hydro Expansion Project. And while the government may have a very ambitious and expensive longterm plan to provide clean energy, Mr. Speaker, the energy infrastructure we have today is what we are stuck with for the foreseeable future.
My concern, Mr. Speaker, is that currently Northwest Territories Power Corporation infrastructure is aging faster than we can keep pace. In NTPC's fiveyear capital plan, there is 30 to $50 million capital investment required every year just to replace aging infrastructure. Mr. Speaker, that is a very expensive BandAid.
We know too well that our power rates also continue to go up. Just this past May, NWT residents experienced an interim increase of 2.5 percent while the current rate application increase is before the Public Utilities Board.
Mr. Speaker, Northerners continue to pay increasing power rates because the cost of maintaining and upgrading the energy infrastructure is so expensive. We need more demand for energy services, more consumption of energy to bring down costs, but that too, Mr. Speaker, is looking dismal. On one hand, we are encouraged to think of climate change and not to consume energy but on the other hand, the more of us that consume energy in our existing system, the more we share the price and bring down the cost per unit of energy per person.
Mr. Speaker, we are not attracting new residents to help pay our energy bills, nor are we seeing a lot of major resource development projects coming online that require power to bring down the cost for residents. So, Mr. Speaker, Northerners continue to pay the price, and there is little to change this bleak situation with the energy infrastructure system that we currently have in place. I will have questions for the Minister of Infrastructure later today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Members' statements. Member for Nahendeh.
