Low water at the Aishihik and Mayo hydro facilities is forcing Yukon Energy to indefinitely suspend its wholesale Secondary Sales to Yukon Electrical Company Limited (YECL). Secondary Sales will also be suspended to Yukon Energy’s retail customer, the Mayo school. The Secondary Sales Program will be curtailed as of September 1, 2010.
The program has operated since 1998. It gave eligible Yukon businesses the option of using hydro power to heat their facilities instead of diesel fuel or propane, both of which are more expensive. They paid two-thirds of the cost of ‘firm’ power, in exchange for the service being limited and fully interruptible. They were required to maintain a back-up heating system for use when Secondary Sales were not available, such as on cold winter days.
“We have always been upfront about the fact that Secondary Sales would only be offered as long as there was surplus hydro electricity,” Yukon Energy spokesperson Janet Patterson said. “Secondary Sales customers have for the past several years benefited from this program and have seen substantial savings. However we are now at a point where, for the good of the vast majority of Yukoners, we must suspend the program indefinitely.”
At Aishihik the water flows this summer are about 70 percent of what they are during an average year and they are expected to drop even further over the next several months to about 60 percent of average. At Mayo the flows are about 80 percent of what they are normally. Continuing with Secondary Sales would mean Yukon Energy would be forced to burn more diesel to make up the hydro short-fall.
Now that Yukon Energy has notified Yukon Electrical Company Limited of the decision, YECL will in turn tell its 20 Secondary Sales customers.
“By suspending Secondary Sales, Yukon Energy is making the best possible use of the clean, renewable energy that is available to us,” Patterson said. “In the meantime, we are continuing to explore all avenues for additional clean power to help us meet the territory’s future electrical needs.”
Contact:
Janet Patterson
Supervisor, Communications
Yukon Energy Corporation
(867) 393-5333
(867) 335-1519
janet.patterson@yec.yk.ca
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