NTPC Files General Rate Application with Public Utilities Board

HAY RIVER, NT (March 31, 2022) – The Northwest Territories Power Corporation (NTPC) has filed a general rate application (GRA) with the Public Utilities Board (PUB) to ensure that the revenue it collects through rates is recovering the cost of providing power to its customers.

The GRA requests an increase in the cost of electricity phased over a two-year period to avoid a significant increase in one year for all customers. In total, NTPC requires an approximate seven percent increase in revenue.

The increases being requested vary among NTPC’s rate zones, as the result of regional or local factors.

  • Customers in the Snare and Thermal zones will see an increase of 2.5% in the first year and 2.5% in the second year.
  • Customers in Norman Wells will see a rate increase of 10% in year one and 10% in year two. After the subsidy from the GNWT’s Territorial Power Support Program (TPSP) is applied, the actual increase experienced by residential customers will be approximately 3.53 percent. The increases are necessary, in part, to cover the costs of building a new power plant in the community, which was commissioned in 2021.
  • Customers in Fort Smith and Fort Resolution will also see an increase of 10% in year one and 10% in year two. Customers in those communities have the lowest rates in the NWT but rates have not been covering the cost of delivering power for many years. Even after the increase, Fort Smith and Fort Resolution rates will remain lower than other communities in the NWT and below the TPSP rate. 

An average NTPC customer paying the TPSP rate and using 1,000 kWh in a winter month will see an increase of approximately $12 on their monthly bill after year two.  

The GRA process is an open and transparent method of setting rates that includes both technical and public review. Information about the process can be found on the PUB website (www.nwtpublicutilities.com).  

NTPC is a wholly owned subsidiary of NT Hydro, which in turn is 100 percent owned by the Government of the Northwest Territories. 

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QUOTE:

“We recognize that many customers are continuing to experience economic challenges from the pandemic. NTPC has made every effort to keep rates as low as possible for as many customers as possible but we are facing the same cost pressures as other businesses here in the NWT and elsewhere. Our proposed rate increase is consistent with increases occurring in other provinces across Canada.”

-Cory Strang, President and CEO, Northwest Territories Power Corporation

Media Contact:

Doug Prendergast

Manager, Communications

Tel: 867-874-5202

Email: dprendergast@ntpc.com

 

Link to Media Backgrounder

 

 

Hay River, NWT