Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Members' statements. Returns to oral questions. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to recognize Mr. Tim Durkin. He's in the gallery and he's a Rotarian with Mr. Dent and I. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said in my Member's statement, this government does have a large role to play in the conservation of energy in the Northwest Territories, whether it's providing incentives to private homeowners or looking at the infrastructure in the buildings that this government owns itself. This government is a very significant owner of infrastructure that consumes energy.

Mr. Speaker, I don't know how many years the excess power from the hydro at the Taltson dam has been flowing over the dam untapped, but it's got to be a long time because I've been talking about it in this House for 11 years. I don't know who to direct this question to, Mr. Speaker, but I would like to know when, with all the public buildings that have access to the transmission lines from the hydro at Taltson, when is this government going to tap into that and heat and light some of our buildings in the South Slave with hydro power? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Power Corporation, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are in the process of looking at the feasibility of certain buildings in the communities. I mentioned that we are looking at three buildings in Fort Smith this year. There's also the possibility of 14 facilities that could be put on electric heat. But again, Mr. Speaker, it comes down to how much surplus is there and exactly the grid system we have in those communities, can they take the extra load, and also ensuring that we do have a long-term accessibility question to ensure we have the long-term ability to access that surplus power over a long period of time. So we are doing a feasibility study along with the Department of Public Works and Services and other government agencies. Again, this is one of the initiatives that we are putting forward in regards to the energy plan to ensure that we look at this in other communities such as using residual heat off power plants, taking a look at the biomass project we're looking at in regards to other facilities. So we are looking at other alternatives. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Mr. Speaker, all I can say is it's about time. Energy and fuel has been costing a lot of money for a long time now and we've had that excess power at the Taltson dam for a very long time. We talk about consistency and continuity of availability of that. I mean, we're talking about expanding the Taltson, for heaven's sake. So I mean, it's a waste. I'm sorry it's taking so long. I'm glad something's being done. Would the Minister also commit to looking at public buildings in Hay River as well for conversion or a dual system that would be partly hydro and perhaps have a backup system of some other form of energy? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we will attempt to look at other facilities again. Mr. Speaker, I'd just like to point out that we do have roughly about eight megawatts of surplus power, but we have to ensure that the grid systems in those communities can take that extra load. A good example is in Hay River, we were looking at the possibility of a pipe coating plant. Again, in order for that to work, we had to upgrade the whole grid system in the community because the system that we have now does not have the capacity to take on that extra load. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Mr. Speaker, I know the pipe coating facility would have taken a considerable amount of power in an industrial use, but we have government buildings in Hay River. We have the courthouse, we have our schools, we have the hospital, we have many facilities. We have an existing transmission system within the community for hydro. It seems like it should be a simple question to answer. Do we have a capacity to put an interruptible service or a dual service into those buildings? When could this be looked at? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd just like to commit to the Member that we are working with the communities. We are working with the different agencies in those communities. There is a push now to develop community energy plans and that's where we're hoping that working in conjunction with community governments, community businesses, that we are able to expand our potential energy savings by way of heating facilities using hydro. So again, we are working together. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thought we only got three questions today. I'm getting confused. I'll just pass on the fourth. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Villeneuve.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I'll continue on for my friend Mrs. Groenewegen, on the Power Corporation's pilot projects that they're doing in Fort Smith right now, and also I'd just like to get Fort Resolution on the bandwagon. We have lots of Public Works buildings there that could go on this residual power pilot project. But with what, I just want to reiterate what my friend Mrs. Groenewegen was saying, that it's way past due that we've looked at this. But I think one of the first steps that we have to do at the Power Corporation is we have to develop an interruptible power rate or residual power rate. That's the first step that we have to do to get any benefits out of these pilot projects, because with the price of fuel right now it's not really that high and with all the riders and everything and this equalization of power through the NWT, we're almost paying the same all over the place. So those pilot projects are going to really come out, in my eyes right now, really borderline energy efficiency in the eyes of the government because we don't have any other power rates. Can we get a residual power rate set by the Power Corporation or something looked at in that effect in order for these pilot projects to look viable? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Power Corporation, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again, we are developing an energy plan for the different communities. We're looking at the possibility of the energy used, regardless if it's from diesel heat or electric heat. We do also have to keep in mind there's a cost to changing the infrastructure that we do have in place by way of a single electrical grid going into a lot of these communities versus a heavier grid which goes to a lot of the larger centres. Also, we're realizing we're having more usage of power in communities by community expansion. So we have to build that into our capital planning process. So we have to work together, find ways to also look at saving energy, but also keep in mind that we will have to put a major investment in upgrading our grid systems into all our communities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I realize there's lots of work involved with switching over from diesel to electrical power. But I want to ask the Minister again, can the Power Corporation look at setting some kind of a residual power rate which not only will apply to public works buildings but everybody in general, so that homeowners, private citizens can make the investment to switch over from heating oil to electrical power at certain times of the day, evenings, weekends, whatever it takes, and take advantage of a residual rate which we could use this eight megawatts of power that's left over for the last 20 years at the Power Corp that's been in the territorial government's hands. Can we do that as a first step to get everybody on the bandwagon to saving energy, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again, we all know the process we have to go through to find power rates and exactly what's acceptable to everyone. Again, this is a new concept that's being thrown out there. We do have a rate application process which we put forward basically every two or four years. It goes through the Public Utilities Board process, and also we talk about one-rate zone, two-rate zones, and at some point we have to make a decision on that so we have a system that's fair to everyone, but also realizing we do have different types of energy communities; diesel, hydro and residual communities. So I think we do have to look at it in a context of how we basically develop our business case, but also realizing we do have a regulatory process we have to go through. Thank you.