News & Events

Check this section for Yukon Energy's latest news and coming events.

If you have questions about any of the information posted here, please contact:

Lisa Wiklund
Manager, Community Relations
Yukon Energy Corporation
Phone: (867) 393-5398
Email: Lisa.Wiklund@yec.yk.ca

Community Involvement
Jun 09, 2009  Comment

Watching Water Levels

With the hot weather we've had in most of Yukon over the last few weeks, we've had some questions about possible flooding in the Southern Lakes. The summer of 2007 is still fresh in many people's minds, when local residents spent long hours sandbagging to try to save their properties from flood damage. Yukon Energy is often asked what we can do to help prevent flooding of people's properties in high water years. There is a misconception that if we would only let more water through our Whitehorse dam or our Lewes Lake gates, there wouldn't be a flooding problem. The truth is that under our water license, we must have all our gates open no later than May 15 of each year. That means that we hold no water back during the summer months, and we have no ability to increase the water flow from the Southern Lakes. We've had studies done that show even if we opened our gates earlier in the spring, it would have no effect on the peak water levels later in the summer. There's just too much water coming into Marsh Lake compared to what is able to flow out (think of filling a sink with a firefighter's hose....the drain can't handle the volume of water coming in to the sink from the hose). In the case of the Southern Lakes, the Yukon River and Miles Canyon act as bottlenecks. While we can't prevent flooding, what we can do is share information with local residents about what we expect summer water levels to be like each year. This will help people prepare their property for possible flooding in high water years. In 2009, after taking into account the high snow pack from the previous winter and Environment Canada's long range forecast, we expect levels to be in the vicinity of what they were in 2004. Here you will see a chart that shows a solid blue line up to the end of May, and then it turns into two dotted blue lines. The solid line is the actual water level to date. The two dotted blue lines indicate the range of anticipated summer peak water levels. This chart will be updated on a regular basis. We have also committed to emailing the chart to those local residents who request it. Please let us know if you wish to be added to the email list.

Billing
Jun 22, 2009  Comment

Lowest Power Rates in Years

At various times on this blog we have provided you with information about how your electrical bills are changing and what you can expect to pay for your power. Recent developments (a ruling by the Yukon Utilities Board on Yukon Electrical Company Ltd.'s rate application and a decision by the Yukon government to replace the Rate Stabilization Fund with a new program called the Interim Electrical Rebate) mean your bottom line is once again changing. In fact, your rates will be going down to the lowest they've been in several years. This post aims to explain what the changes mean to you in real dollars. As we did in our earlier postings on this topic, we'll use the example of a homeowner who uses 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity each month (the average usage in Yukon is about 750 kilowatt hours per month). In January of 2008, this person's bill would have been $123.39, including GST.  By January 2009, a number of things had changed. The Yukon Electrical Company Ltd. asked the Yukon Utilities Board to approve an 11 percent increase in rates. While the YUB considered the request, it approved on an interim basis an increase of five percent, starting on August 1 of last year. Then Yukon Energy asked for a rate decrease of 17.8 percent for residential customers using 1,000 kilowatt hours or less a month. While the YUB considered our request, it approved an interim decrease of 3.48 percent, starting December 1, 2008.  As a result of those events, by December 2008 our homeowner’s bill, based on 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity used, was $134.56 a month. A reduction to zero of the Fuel Adjustment Rider (Rider F), and a final decision by the Yukon Utilities Board on Yukon Electrical Company Ltd.'s rate application dropped bills to $114.05 a month this June. Almost all this decrease was due to the Fuel Rider reduction. The Yukon Utilities Board rejected most of Yukon Electrical Company Ltd.'s proposed rate increase. Starting this July, bills will be reduced even further for residential customers. The Yukon government is replacing the out-going Rate Stabilization Fund with a new program called the Interim Electrical Rebate. Residential customers will receive a maximum rebate on their bills of $26.62 per month (before GST), which will bring the monthly cost of 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity to $105.60. There's one more piece to this puzzle. The Yukon Utilities Board is still to rule on Yukon Energy’s request for a 17.8 percent decrease for first block residential customers. If it rules in our favour this fall,  the monthly bill later this year for a residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours of power in a billing period would be $87.49…the lowest rates in several years.  

Privatization
Jun 18, 2009  Comment

We Are Not for Sale

There has been a lot of media coverage over the last several days regarding the possibility of Yukon Energy being sold to a private Alberta company. Employees at Yukon Energy are worried, angry and upset about the future of their company. Yukon Energy Corporation has given permission for a letter, which was sent to local newspapers by a large group of Yukon Energy staff,  to be printed on this blog. Here it is. We are writing as Yukon Energy employees who feel compelled to talk about Premier Fentie's plans to privatize the public corporation we work for. The secretive manner in which he is dealing with this issue is unacceptable to us. The premier has an obligation to be open and honest about his plans not only with those directly affected (in this case the Yukon Energy staff) but with all Yukoners, who are the owners of Yukon Energy. We would also like to express our dismay over the resignation of four very dedicated Yukon Energy Corporation/Yukon Development Corporation board members. We are saddened that these four felt they could not, as a result of political interference, continue to perform their duties and responsibilities. We have lost a huge bank of knowledge and expertise with their departure.   Yukon Energy is at one of the most crucial times in its existence. Major projects are planned for the near future, including Mayo B. Yet it appears Premier Fentie has chosen this time to try to dismantle the Corporation and hand it over to a private company from Alberta. Why, we don't know. He hasn't given us any explanations. But readers should understand that if he moves forward with his plan, Yukoners will be the poorer for it. As a public corporation, Yukon Energy answers to Yukoners. As a private company owned by outside interests, Yukon Energy would answer to the bottom line and profits would go to Alberta instead of being re-invested in the Yukon.   We are Yukoners who work hard at our jobs and love what we do. We want to stay and raise our families in the territory. But we are worried that if Yukon Energy is privatized, many of us will lose our jobs. For some of us, that will mean leaving the Yukon to seek work elsewhere.   We have a message for Premier Fentie: As you have chosen not to be forthcoming on this issue, we can only assume that you are not interested in what’s best for Yukon Energy or for the Yukon public.  We all make poor choices at times and we hope that you step back from this one. We invite you to meet with us as a group to explain your actions, rationale and plans for the future of our company.   We would also urge any readers who are worried about where the premier is going with this, to please contact their MLAs, write to this newspaper, and use whatever other means they can to voice their concerns.     Nick Balderas David Bourque Darryel Collins Myrna Engren Linda Greer Lynda Harlow Jaeson Henderson Crystal Huebert Mai Ho Scott Hoffmann Attila Janits David MacDonald Wesley Marsh Christina McGillivray Ed Mollard Melanie Pettefer Janet Patterson Ed Peake Al Porter Brian Power Les Rowland Ken Sawyer Matthew Sills And many other Yukon Energy employees who chose not to give their names