Ask Steph: Who approves rate increases?

Today's question: Who exactly approved our rates to go up? Why aren't we, your customers, included in these decisions that only affect us your customers?

Hi. Thanks for your questions about the recent announcement that electricity bills are increasing. We recognize that even the smallest of increases can be a hardship for some individuals and families.

Our regulator, the Yukon Utilities Board, approves all electricity rate increases, including the increase that came into effect on December 1, 2019.

Before any rate increase is approved, it is carefully reviewed and scrutinized by the Yukon Utilities Board in a public process that involves input and feedback from public stakeholders, other utilities and electricity customers, should they choose to be involved.

In the case of the December 1, 2019 bill increase, we at Yukon Energy, filed our 2017/2018 General Rate Application with the Yukon Utilities Board on June 22, 2017. In the weeks following that, notices about our filing were put in Yukon newspapers and on our website with information about the rate increase we were seeking and how stakeholders could get involved. Public stakeholders who wished to provide their comments on our rate application were able to do so during a public workshop about the application, an oral public hearing and by providing written comments to the Yukon Utilities Board.

The process to review rate applications usually takes about a year. The Yukon Utilities Board took 29 months to review and approve the most recent electricity bill increase. While this lag has caused the impact of the December 1 increase to be higher for customers than originally planned, it also shows that any decision the Yukon Utilities Board makes to approve electricity rates is carefully considered and scrutinized before it happens.

More information about the Yukon Utilities Board is available on its website, http://yukonutilitiesboard.yk.ca/. Copies of all the documents filed by us and intervenors during our 2017/2018 General Rate Application is also available on the Yukon Board Application website here, http://yukonutilitiesboard.yk.ca/proceedings/yukon-energy-corporation-2017-2018-general-rate-application/

Stephanie