The matter of whether Hay River’s power franchise will be transferred from Northland Utilities to the NWT Power Corporation is heading to a public hearing later this month.
Nearly eight years have passed since the town chose the power corporation to replace Northland as the local power distributor, in the hope that residents would enjoy cheaper rates.
The transfer has been delayed by years of litigation and arbitration.
In September 2022, Northland wrote to regulator the Public Utilities Board to suggest that customers might be better off if Northland stayed in charge, despite the town council’s wishes.
Northland suggested the board could use its power to call off the entire transfer and leave the franchise in the company’s hands, primarily on the grounds that the transfer would negatively affect Northland’s remaining NWT customers by forcing them to pay more for their power.
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The Town of Hay River and NTPC have strongly resisted that suggestion. They also dispute Northland’s assertion that more than a million dollars in costs associated with any transfer must be paid by someone else – the town, the power corp or residents.
The town and power corp say all of this has already been decided by an arbitrator, and Northland is now trying to relitigate issues in front of the Public Utilities Board. Northland says the costs it seeks are “reasonable.”
An entire year has been spent going back and forth between the parties on these new topics, while neighbouring communities like Fort Providence and Fort Smith have requested to intervene in case the ultimate outcome affects their own rates.
A public hearing initially planned in September 2023 was pushed back by the summer wildfire crisis. The Public Utilities Board has now scheduled the hearing for January 15-17 at Hay River’s Woodland Drive community hall arena. It’ll also be streamed online.
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While the move to a hearing advances proceedings, there remains no fixed date by which Hay River residents will know what’s happening to their power.
The power corporation has suggested local power rates would drop by as much as 15 percent with NTPC in charge. Northland Utilities, which argues extra costs are involved, disputes that.
The Town of Hay River says the board’s decision will have significant consequences for municipalities across the NWT, in terms of whether councils have the final say over who supplies power or whether the regulator can overrule them.
