Power rate increase could total $5 million for Iqaluit customers

CHARLOTTE PETRIE

A $15-million fuel rider rate increase by the Nunavut Power Corporation could translate into an additional $5 million for electrical customers in Iqaluit, Keith Irving, an Iqaluit city councillor, said.

NPC recently requested approval from the Utility Rate Review Council for a temporary fuel rider rate increase of $15 million to counter-balance the rising cost of fuel. A decision is expected May 16.

Given that 33 per cent of all the fuel in Nunavut is burned in Iqaluit, the city’s residents will likely end up bearing 33 per cent of the $15-million rate increase, Irving predicted.

By breaking down the figures, Irving deduced that the average cost per month per average household, if the NPC’s request is approved, would be about $70, amounting to approximately $840 per year.

“If homeowners, businesses and government agencies have to find that money they’re going to have to make cuts elsewhere,” Irving said in a letter to Keith Peterson, chair of the Nunavut Association of Municipalities.

Irving is also upset over NPC’s failure to hold public consultations on the rate increase or formally notify customers and municipalities of its application.

“The Nunavut Power Corporation has provided no information to customers about this proposed rate increase either on its Web site, on our electricity bills or in any media releases,” Irving said.

“Therefore, we have yet to hear as municipalities or individual customers how a $15-million increase is justified. We do know that NPC has not tabled their financial statements since 1999 when it was Northwest Territories Power Corporation, so how do we know if a $15-million, or any rate hike, is justifiable?” he continued.

Without any sense of how NPC is managing its money, Irving feels the rate increase request is out of line. And after researching the price of diesel over the past year, Irving found that although the prices have been volatile, in the spring when NPC purchases its fuel, the prices are relatively constant.

“What is needed before any decisions are made are serious public consultations so the customer will have an opportunity to understand if the amount of the hike is reasonable and if all impacts have been considered.

“Surely the GN contemplated public consultations of this nature when it introduced the legislation governing the utilities rate review council,” Irving concluded.