Heading to the Lakes | Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Yukon Energy is planning another round of public meetings in the Southern Lakes region.

We'll provide an update on the Southern Lakes Enhancement Concept. We'll also share information about this summer's expected peak lake levels.

Marsh Lake: Tuesday May 29th, 6:30 p.m. - Marsh Lake Community Centre

Tagish: Wednesday May 30th, 6:30 p.m. - Tagish Community Club

Everyone is welcome.

Another Dollars to Sense Workshop | Monday, May 14, 2012

Looking to save some money on energy? There are still some spaces left in an energy management workshop being offered this week by Yukon Energy, Yukon Electrical Company Limited and Natural Resources Canada.

The workshop will cover everything from energy 'basics' to the importance of managing energy. Particicpants will be shown some low cost/no cost energy savings opportunities.

The session is open to everyone, although it will likely be of particular interest to small business owners and operators, First Nation and municipal employees who manage energy departments, and anyone else who's job involves making energy-related decisions.

The cost is $25. You can pay at the door with cash, cheque or credit card (VISA or Mastercard). To register, please complete the form found at the bottom of this information sheet, and email it to communications@yukonenergy.ca or fax it, attention Janet, to (867) 393-5323.

For more information, or to inquiry about bursaries for those participants experiencing financial difficulty, please contact jessica.thiessen@yec.yk.ca or call Jessica at (867) 393-3898.

Our Latest Planning Documents | Friday, May 11, 2012

Both our 2012-13 Strategic Plan and our 2012 Business Plan are now available for you to read. We invite you to take a look and let us know if you have any questions.

Using Our Boat Lock Safely | Thursday, May 10, 2012

Here's something you might want to mark on your calendar: Yukon Energy is hosting a boat lock information night on June 14th at 5:30 p.m. at the Marsh Lake control structure.

It's a chance for you to get hands on experience with taking a boat through our lock (we'll have a small boat there that you can use). We'll also be serving up hot dogs and refreshments.

We hope to see you there. If you can't make it though, we do have a boat lock instructional video that you might find useful.

Please contact us if you need directions to get to the boat lock.

Question: Things are expensive enough as it is. How could a rate increase possibly benefit me?

To give a short answer, I would say this increase helps insure a secure electricity future for you and your children. But let me go at it a different way.

You know that an older house takes more maintenance time and money than a new house, and an older car requires more care and attention than a car just off the lot. So it is with our facilities, some of which are now more than 50 years old. In order to keep them up-to-date and working properly, we need maintenance dollars. As with everything in life, costs for parts and services are increasing, so to do our job properly and to ensure you have a reliable and safe supply of electricity, we need to secure more revenue.

A rate increase will also allow us to work towards new projects to ensure we’re able to continue providing Yukoners with plentiful, sustainable electricity at rates that, even after the increases, will be the lowest in the North.  

 

Question: I’ve heard more than once that Yukon needs more electricity. Does this mean we’re actually running out?

The short answer is no. We are running out of renewable hydro power, but we have the ability to generate lots of power if we use all our back-up diesel generators. The question is, do we want to rely increasingly on diesel to meet the growing demand for power?

 Yukoners have told us repeatedly through workshops/meetings, an energy charrette, online, in surveys and even on the street, that they do not want us to burn any more diesel than necessary.

We have spent a great deal of time and effort over the last few years completed projects such as Mayo B and the Aishihik third turbine. These initiatives have allowed us to enhance our existing hydro facilities, essentially squeezing as much electricity as possible from them, without having to resort to building new hydro projects.

We have also devoted a lot of attention to looking for new alternative energy sources such as wind, biomass and geothermal.

Doing the homework to find these new sources of electricity costs money. One of the reasons we felt it was necessary to ask for a rate increase was to help us continue the search for new sustainable power.

Question: Is there anything I can do to minimize the financial impact of a rate increase? I already do things to conserve energy, so what else is there?

We know many Yukoners have been taking steps to conserve electricity for a while now: using energy-efficient bulbs, turning the lights off when you leave the room, using timers when plugging in vehicles, air drying laundry—these are all great ways to conserve and save money.

However there are hundreds of ways of saving electricity, and perhaps there are some that you haven't thought of before. Just a few more conservation actions can make a big difference, especially when you know what will make the most impact.

Our website provides a number of tools that can help you make decisions about how to cut electricity costs.  They include, among other things, a virtual energy-saving home, and an energy calculator that will give you a better understanding of how much electricity each of your appliances or other electronic devices use. Armed with that information, you can make personal choices about how to reduce electricity costs.

Let me give you a concrete example. By only plugging in your truck for four hours instead of 12 hours a night in the dead of winter, you can save almost $30 a month.  Since our proposed increase would mean an additional $8 a month this year and another $10 a month next, by taking this one simple step you will have already eliminated the affects of the rate increase (at least in the winter) and in fact, all other things staying equal, your bill should go down.

Question: What costs will be covered if you get the rate increase you're asking for?

The last time we had a rate increase, in 1999, gas cost 60 to 65 cents a litre and an average house in Whitehorse sold for $185,000. A litre of milk was $1.39. The cost of living has gone up more than 20 percent since the late 1990s.

Yukon Energy is not exempt from today's higher prices. Like everyone else, we are paying much more now for diesel fuel, materials, parts, labour, and services. A rate increase will essentially help us pay our bills.

But more than that, the increase will allow us to continue our work of securing a sustainable energy future for Yukoners.

We’ve done a lot of work in the past several years to reduce diesel use and cut energy costs, including installing the Aishihik third turbine, Mayo B and the Carmacks-Stewart transmission line.

We've also done (and will continue to do) research into options for new energy sources. Research, consultation with governments, stakeholders and the public, engineering, project design and approval - it all takes money.  But it's work we must do to ensure we have enough sustainable electricity for future generations.

Question: I bet we wouldn’t be in this mess if it weren’t for the mines demanding so much electricity, am I right?

Actually, one reason we’ve been able to keep rates low for so long for everyone else in the territory is because of our mining customers. When the Minto mine came on line, for instance, we were able to sell it excess power and lower rates for residential and small business customers by 2.47 percent.  Having the Alexco mine become a customer a couple of years ago helped us avoid asking for rate increases at that time.

Remember too that there's a growing demand for electricity in all sectors, including residential. The Whistlebend sub-division, for example, will require as much electricity as two Minto mines—and if all those homes are electrically heated, they’ll need as much electricity as three Minto mines.

In the commercial and government sectors, even a single major development like the Canada Games Centre or a big-box store requires a substantial amount of power.  

Rate increases now will allow us to provide a secure electricity future for all Yukon customers — residential, commercial, industrial and government.