N.W.T. Power Corp proposes 0.8% fuel fund refund to customers

Just days after announcing a possible rate increase, the Northwest Territories Power Corporation has also applied for a refund rider.

The corporation is asking the Public Utilities Board toeffectively cut the per-kilowatt-hour price of electricity by 0.8 per cent as of June 1.

• N.W.T. power rates could go up 4.8% by June

The refund is because of a $2.5 million surplus in the corporation's Fuel Stabilization Fund due to falling fuel prices over the past two years. When the price of fuel fluctuates, the fund's rate riderscoverthe difference between the actual cost of fuel and the cost built into electricity rates.

Last week, the corporation applied for a 4.8 per cent interim rate increase, which could take effect as soon as June 1.

Pam Coulter, NTPC's communications manager, saidthe decrease is separate from the increase.

"They're actually two separate applications to the Public Utilities Board," she said.

"One is setting rates for the next three years based on the cost that we incur to produce the power. This is completely separate from that, and it's based on the price of fuel."

Coulter saidthe combination of the two applications is, in effect, a request for a 4 per cent increase.

NTPCis also requesting subsequentincreases of 4per cent a year for each of the next two years.