Backlash grows against proposed N.W.T. power hike

There's a growing backlash to the latest proposal to increase the price of power in the N.W.T.

The Northwest Territories Power Corporation says record low water levels in its Snare hydro system means it'll use about $20 million in diesel to generate power this winter. The corporation is asking to increase power rates by about 3.7 cents per kilowatt hour for the next two years.

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“This is a crisis situation that we’re in right now and the current solution that’s on the table isn’t acceptable,’ says Yellowknifer Aaron Reid.

He started an online petition urging the Public Utilities Board to reject the proposed increase. Already more than 650 people have signed up.

“We need other solutions put on the table besides simply shifting the whole cost of the crisis onto the backs of ratepayers,” he says. “I'm hoping that the rate increase will be rejected and that will lead to other dialogue, whether we need to get other governments involved, whether that's municipal, federal or territorial.”

‘This isn’t an isolated incident’

Reid says if this were an isolated incident, it wouldn’t be a big deal.

“But this isn’t an isolated incident.”

Reid has lived in Yellowknife for a decade and has observed the steady increase in the cost of living. He points to higher heating fuel costs, taxes and grocery prices as part of the growing cost of living in the capital and says he knows several people who’ve moved away after taking a hard look at the numbers.

“By all metrics, the Northwest Territories seems to be stagnating or even declining and it shouldn’t be that way, and it doesn’t have to be that way, but it’s all of these high costs that I think are driving people away.

"It’s putting too much pressure on the backs of consumers and ratepayers, and that’s what needs to change.”