Whitehorse,
YT and Hay River, NT (April 14, 1999)
Yukon Energy Corporation and NWT Power Corporation
have signed an agreement to look at cooperative planning and ways to
improve the delivery of energy services north of the 60th parallel.
Energy supply planning,
employee training, regulatory and environmental practice and joint purchasing
are included on the list. One of the first items being addressed will
be the utilities' Year 2000 preparations and sharing common problems
and solutions.
Yukon Energy Corporation
President and CEO Rob McWilliam, and his counterpart, Leon Courneya
of the NWT Power Corporation, will form an advisory committee to action
an 11-point Memorandum of Understanding that was recently finalized.
The alliance was
created under an Intergovernmental Relations Accord signed by the governments
of both territories in February of this year. It mirrors a recent agreement
between the NWT Power Corporation and Manitoba Hydro.
Both presidents
point to the common history of their corporations in the former federally-owned
Northern Canada Power Commission, created in 1948 to serve the power
needs of an emerging North. Yukon negotiated ownership of its assets
in 1986, while NWT purchased the remaining shares of NCPC in 1988.
”Our companies
still have a lot in common, such as combined hydro-diesel systems and
numerous stand-alone diesel plants, plus a number of long term employees
who have operating experience in both areas,“ said Mr. Courneya.
”We can share that expertise and improve service to all our customers.“
”This kind
of joint action makes good business sense between neighbors,“ said
Mr. McWilliam. ”We can help keep rates down, and advance ideas
we're both working on like residual heat recovery and pilot projects
in wind generation.“
Yukon Energy Corporation
executives will travel to Hay River later in April to start work on
specific issues. This will be a reciprocal visit to one made by NWT
Power Corporation staff to Whitehorse last fall. The agreement will
be reviewed after three years.
