Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are all painfully aware that we will have to swallow an increase to our power rates this winter. The Northwest Territories Power Corporation is the provider of power to most NWT communities, but it does not enable progress in the area of power generation for communities. It creates problems for us.

There is a fundamental problem with the mandate of the corporation and the regulatory regime it operates under. We’re bombarded with messages urging us to conserve energy, to do all possible to reduce consumption for the benefit of both the environment — the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions — and the consumer — less energy

used equals lower electricity costs. I agree that we should be trying to conserve for both of these reasons.

But hold on. This logic is counterproductive if our power comes from the NTPC. The more we reduce our energy consumption, the less power we use. The less power we use, the more NTPC revenues drop. The more their revenues drop, the more riders they add to our bills. When NTPC cannot generate enough revenues to meet their expenditures, they ask for a rate increase or rate riders to make up for their lost revenue. And the bottom line is that the dollar figures they put on our power bills go up.

Where in this scenario, Mr. Speaker, is the incentive for any NWT homeowner to want to reduce energy consumption? Until we change this system, we can never get ahead. Either the environment will take a beating or our residents will take a beating, and lately it seems that we as residents are taking a worse beating.

Calculation of NWT power rates must be completely revamped with a view to fairness and equity, and I am glad to hear that there is something coming forward for us to respond to. Capital costs for upgrades to power generation in one community have to be applied to all communities across the territory, not just the individual community where the infrastructure is built.

NTPC itself must be renewed and reorganized. A culture of efficiency and effectiveness must be instilled. Cost saving has to be priority number one for this company, and there are lots of possibilities where savings can be found. The corporation can eliminate management bonuses, trim administrative fat and get creative with technology and innovation, for starters.

Only after NTPC has clearly demonstrated that all avenues for cost savings have been explored can it be allowed to consider power rate increases for its users. It is the duty of the Power Corp to do all it can to minimize the impact of power generation costs on the….