QEC tinkers with rates

Power customers in two tiny communities, Whale Cove and Kimmirut, will start paying lower rates this month, a GN press release says.

Consumers in these two communities paid, until now, rates that were 25 to 30 per cent higher than the Nunavut average. That’s because the rates were set by the old Northwest Territories Public Utilities Board to cover the cost of building new local power plants.

But Nunavut’s Utilities Rates Review Council has recommended that Whale Cove’s community power rates drop by an average of 18.14 cents a kilowatt-hour, and Kimmirut’s community rates drop by an average of 16.63 cents a kilowatt-hour.

Nunavut’s energy minister, Ed Picco, is waiting for a final report from the URRC on how to finance new power plants and power plant upgrades through the use of a temporary surcharge called a “capital stabilization rate rider.”

Meanwhile, the QEC will go ahead with another temporary surcharge called a “fuel stabilization rider,” which will add 3.98 cents a kilowatt-hour to customer’s bills as of Nov. 1, pending a final report on the issue from the URRC.

Also from Nov. 1, residential customers will benefit from a new subsidy system for residential consumers that increases to 1,000 kilowatt-hours the amount of monthly consumption that’s eligible for a subsidized rate