Utilities Board Says Atlin Project Likely to Increase Electricity Rates

WHITEHORSE – Yukon’s independent utility regulator, the Yukon Utilities Board, has issued a scathing assessment of the Yukon Liberal’s plans for the Atlin Hydro project. The report, sent to the Liberal Cabinet on October 18, 2022, indicates that the project is very likely to cause electricity rates for Yukoners to increase.

The report is particularly damning of the Liberal’s poor negotiations of the Electricity Purchase Agreement. Among several areas of criticism is the Liberal government’s decision to include a cost escalator of 50% of CPI whereas similar agreements tend to be much smaller.

“Therefore, the Board finds that customer rates are likely adversely affected by this term, because it is at 50% of CPI.” – Yukon Utilities Board, Report to Yukon Minister of Justice on Yukon Energy Corporation Electricity Purchase Agreement with Tlingit Homeland Energy LP under Section 18 of the Public Utilities Act, page 18

The report is also heavily critical of the lack of planning by the Liberal government for the territory’s energy needs, which forced them to rush into this bad deal for Yukoners. This news comes after it was revealed last week that the project is massively over budget, is a year late, and has not even secured funding.

“What we are seeing is shades of the disgraced Kathleen Wynne government in Ontario where Liberal mismanagement of energy led to increased bills for consumers,” said the Leader of the Official Opposition Currie Dixon. “We are extremely concerned that at a time of record inflation Yukoners are going to find life more unaffordable as a result of the Yukon Liberals’ mismanagement of the energy file. Given just how scathing this report is of the Liberal’s energy plans, I guess we should not be shocked that they hid this report from Yukoners for the last several weeks.”

You can find the YUB report here.

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Tim Kucharuk
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(867) 689-7874