Q+A: Yukon Energy's CEO on the rationale behind two-stage rate hike

Happy Canada Day, Yukoners. Your power bills are going up.

Yukon Energy is enacting a 10 per cent rate hike Tuesday, with another one planned for Jan. 1, 2026. The two interim rate hikes are planned as the Yukon Utilities Board (YUB) considers the company's general rate application. That could mean a third increase in 2027.

The rate hikes are drawing criticism beyond the usual grumbling about bills going up. Roger Rondeau, with the Ultility Consumers Group (UCG), this week slammed YUB for approving the two interim rate increases. The UCG has filed an application with the board calling for the second rate hike to be delayed until next July.

Yukon Energy CEO Chris Milner spoke with Yukon Morning guest host Dave White Monday about the increase.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

If it's approved, that's an increase that customers are certainly going to feel. What's your your message to them?

Certainly that's a large number. We're seeing large numbers like that here in the Yukon. We're seeing it actually all over Canada really as demand on electricity grows, people turn to electricity for more sources of power for their everyday life. And really what it's about for Yukon is having that energy available for people now and into the future.

We're seeing a system that's under a lot of pressure right now. We have aging assets, hydro dams. So when hydro dams and other infrastructure, you know, power lines, substations, all the things that bring power to your home start to show their age, you have to invest in them. You have to invest in them urgently. And that's what's driving this rate increase.

Is this increase about maintaining this aging infrastructure or is it about creating some new stuff?

It's both and I think that's why we're starting to see large numbers such as the one that's in this rate increase. 

We have three hydro dams that have been the main reason that Yukoners enjoyed low electricity rates certainly across the North and even comparatively in some Canadian jurisdictions. So when those hydro dams start needing work, they're big ticket items, right? We have almost $200 million going into the Mayo dam over the next little while. So that's a renewable energy asset that needs to provide energy for many years, many decades into the future.

But to your second point, it's about preparing for the future too, right? We have a fairly old system. It was built in the 1950s and 1970s. By most standards, that's almost heritage status. So we're having to invest in that.

Have things been sort of ignored over the years? Are we are we basically paying the piper for not doing things more proactively?

In the rearview mirror, doing things more proactively is always important, but increasing people's bills is also a hard thing to do. Infrastructure age starts to show itself gradually and then it starts to show itself rapidly. So that's really what we're dealing with right now.

I think the decisions we need to make going forward, need to be decisions that are going to have a lasting impact. It's going to be about improving the system to add more renewables.

It's going to be about really strengthening our hydro assets. And that's really what we need to focus on to really secure our current renewable energy and build a system that allows for future renewables to get plugged in.