Yukon’s Energy Future…Let’s Talk! | Tuesday, January 25, 2011

What do you think it will it take to make sure we have enough clean, reliable and affordable energy to meet Yukon's electricity needs well into the future? Since we're all stakeholders in Yukon's energy future, let's find the answers together.

We are hosting workshops in three Yukon rural communities and an energy charrette in Whitehorse. You're invited to take part in one or more of these events. It's a chance for us to come together so that we can all be informed about the issues, learn from a wide range of perspectives, and work together on energy planning. It's an empowering process that's all about finding collaborative solutions. The recommendations from the charrette and community workshops will be used as guiding principles for Yukon Energy as we make energy related decisions into the future.

Note that in addition to the evening public gatherings, there will be daytime sessions on March 7th, 8th, and 9th that will bring together invited Yukon stakeholders and experts, some from Outside and some from here in the territory. Each evening you will have a chance to meet the experts, see what was discussed that day, and add to the conversation. Watch for more details in the days ahead.

February 17, 2011
7-9 pm
Mount McIntyre Grey Mountain Room, Whitehorse
Introduction to Charrette (Charrette Kickoff)
Presentation by Stuart Hickox

February 22, 2011
7-9 pm
Mayo Community Centre Hall, 310 6th Avenue

February 23, 2011
7-9 pm
Dänojà Zho Cultural Centre
1131 Front St., across from Visitor Reception Centre,
Dawson City

February 28, 2011
7-9 pm
Haines Junction Council Chambers (upstairs in the Convention Centre)

March 7, 8 and 9, 2011
7-9 pm each evening
Mount McIntyre Grey Mountain Room, Whitehorse
 

Sunday’s Outage | Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Heavy ice and snow on Yukon Energy's transmission line between Carmacks and Faro resulted in a short power outage this past Sunday (Jan. 23rd). Power went out at 2:13 a.m. and affected Riverdale, and points north to Carmacks, Faro, Ross River and Pelly Crossing. Power was restored within 41 minutes, and was returned much sooner in some places such as Riverdale, where it was only out for nine minutes. Yukon Energy apologizes for the inconvenience caused by this outage.

Another Question About Diesel Consumption | Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Today's question: How much diesel did Yukon Energy use last year on its entire system (both the Whitehorse-Aishihik-Faro grid and the Mayo-Dawson grid)? I pay $1.25/L for diesel. Does Yukon Energy pay the same as I do?

In 2010, Yukon Energy consumed approximately 751,500 litres on the Whitehorse-Aishihik-Faro grid and about 677,500 litres on the Mayo-Dawson transmission system. The price that Yukon Energy pays for diesel varies based on the going market rate and the location (Whitehorse being the least expensive community and Dawson being the most expensive). In 2010 the price ranged from 82.5 cents/litre to 99 cents/litre.

What’s With the Wonky Time on my Clock? | Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Question: My digital alarm clock is going crazy, gaining minutes like mad. My wife's is a little steadier. We always notice that my (very old) clock gains time when there's something wonky with some sort of regulator on the power production side. What exactly is happening, and when will it be fixed?

Without knowing specifics such as what community the clock is located in or its operating principle, I can only comment in general terms. I will try to explain how a clock determines time, how the electrical system might influence the time, and what Yukon Energy does to control time.

Some clocks use our system frequency of 60 cycles a second as a reference for determining time. Others generate their own reference. For example, grandfather clocks use a pendulum, while many digital devices have a small crystal that oscillates at a very precise frequency. Those that generate their own reference will obviously not be influenced by our system.

For the benefit of those clocks that are plugged into a wall socket and therefore do rely on our system for accuracy, we use a device that is essentially a sophisticated electric wall clock. We synchronize that wall clock with a very accurate satellite signal. Yukon Energy monitors the frequency closely so that it doesn't wander from the "correct" time by more than 10 seconds. As long as we do this properly, the drift in any clock should be barely noticeable. Certainly it should not be swinging by minutes each day.

You might recall that around Easter of last year, Yukon Energy did have issues with our wall clock, as explained in a blog post at the time(http://blog.yukonenergy.ca/blog/the_power_of_time/). We now have a backup system that provides a check for when the main system begins to deviate. We are therefore pretty confident that our system frequency is keeping correct time. That's why I suspect the issue with the clock in question is likely due to another cause.

A number of communities are not supplied directly from the Yukon Energy system. Instead they have their own local diesel generation. These systems are not owned or operated by Yukon Energy so we can't comment on any issues related to their system frequency.

The Cost of Keeping You Informed | Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Today's question: What has been the cost per customer for Yukon Energy's recent advertising on radio, print and the newest "novelette" distributed to households?

Last year Yukon Energy spent about $51-million to bring power to Yukon homes and businesses. That works out to approximately $1,700 a person. Of that amount, about $8 per person was spent on a public information campaign to keep Yukoners informed about what we are doing and how we are planning to meet future energy needs. That $8 per person represents about 0.05 percent of our total capital and O & M budgets for the year. While it's a small number, it is an important one. Since Yukon Energy is a publicly owned utility that is operated for and by Yukoners, we believe Yukoners have the right to know how we are meeting the energy needs and what our vision is for the future. We can't keep you informed without spending a bit of money, but Yukon Energy believes it's a necessary expenditure.

Turning Cardboard into Energy? | Monday, January 17, 2011

Question: Has there been any research into using cardboard from the local businesses for energy production? At least one community in Alaska pays quite a bit of money to the local stores for their leftover cardboard, which is then used in the local electrical plant. I've been told it burns cleaner than coal and is readily available, as most box stores normally throw away or recycle large amounts of cardboard. Here in Whitehorse, Raven Recycling gets tons of cardboard.

Yes, Yukon Energy is currently looking at using waste - including cardboard - from the Whitehorse landfill to produce electricity. You can find more information about our Waste-to-Energy research here.

Dawson City Streetlight Usage | Monday, January 17, 2011

Question: I was wondering why the street lights are all on all the time at night in Dawson City? In other places I've lived they alternate the lamps every other one, turning them on and off during the night to conserve electricity and increase time between bulb changes.

In theory we could reduce the amount of light being used for street lighting in areas of lower traffic usage (or hours where usage is lower). However that adaptive lighting technology requires upgrades to the system (smart grid type technology) to allow centralized control of each streetlight. For our small number of lights in Dawson City it would not be cost effective right now.

Step 1 is to find the most energy efficient type of lighting (which is why we're looking at LEDs) and Step 2 would be to look at adaptive lighting technologies later on down the line. The type of LED streetlights we are testing do not have dimming capabilities but that is an option we can consider in the future. Prince George, B.C. is running a pilot adaptive lighting pilot project right now. Anchorage is also looking at dusk and dawn dimming and snowfall dimming (lights are brighter when reflecting off the snow). We will be following the results of their work to see how it might apply in Yukon.

Explaining The Yukon Utilities Board’s Latest Ruling | Monday, January 17, 2011

Last October, Yukon Energy and the Yukon Electrical Company Limited appeared before our regulator, the Yukon Utilities Board, for what is known as a Phase II hearing. The purpose of the hearing was to provide the Utilities Board with the information it needed to make decisions regarding three topics:

1) What percentage of the total amount of money the utilities need to operate should be paid by each class of customer (residential, small business, government and industry);

2) How the rates within each class should be designed; and

3) Whether there should be any changes in the terms under which the utilities provide service to customers.

The Yukon Utilities Board has now made its ruling. Here are the main points that will likely be of most interest to you:

1) The Board recognized that as a result of Yukon government Orders-in-Council, no changes can be made before 2013 to the overall revenues charged to each rate class. The Board also observed that the revenues from the residential rate class are considerably below the costs to serve this class – residential customers pay less than 80 percent of the true cost of their power, while business and industry pay more than 100 percent and government general service customers pay over 140 percent of what it costs to provide them with power. In its Order, the Board said that once the government’s Orders-in-Council expire at the end of 2012, “the Board expects that both utilities will jointly come before this Board with a new Phase II Application to correct the current imbalances”. The Utilities Board writes, “In terms of pricing signals, the Board is of the view that the best pricing signals to customers are those prices that reflect the full cost to serve those customers.” That means that unless there is another Yukon government Order-in-Council that again prohibits the re-balancing of rates, non-government residential customers may be faced with significant rate increases in a few year’s time over and above any general rate increases that either utility may require.

2) In terms of how the rates within each class should be designed, both Yukon Energy and Yukon Electrical Company Limited had argued that there should be price signals set to encourage people to conserve electricity. In other words, the utilities suggested that a new rate block be established and that the more power used, the higher the rate charged for that power. Yukon Energy had also proposed that there be a substantial increase in the cost of any power consumed by residential customers above 2,500 kilowatt hours per month, and there be a decrease in power bills for those residential customers who keep their usage under 1,000 kilowatt hours per month (the average monthly residential usage is about 800 kilowatt hours per month).

The Utilities Board did create three blocks instead of the current two for residential and small business customers, each block being at a higher rate.

The Board rejected Yukon Energy’s idea for a decrease for non-government residential customers in the First Block (up to 1,000 kilowatt hours per month), making the observation that a reduction in these first-energy block rates is not warranted because the revenues paid by these residential customers are below the cost of their power and that this issue should be corrected when Order-in-Council 2008/149 expires (see Point 1). The Second Block, between 1,001 and 2,500 kilowatt hours per month, would see a slight reduction of up to .2 percent, and the Third Block, also known as the runoff rate, (anything over 2,500 kilowatt hours per month) would see an increase of between .2 percent (at 2,600 kilowatt hours per month) and 4.4 percent (at 5,000 kilowatt hours per month).

The Utilities Board approved the utilities’ proposal for four blocks for non-government small business and municipal government rates, with the fourth block being an initial step toward the transition to a new large business rate class that the Board directed the utilities to put forth in their next General Rate Applications. The utilities must still test the numbers to ensure they provide the correct returns, but the Board’s suggested rates for these customers would have the following bill impacts: The First Block (up to 2,000 kilowatt hours per month, would see reductions of between .8 and 2 percent. The Second Block (from 2,001 to 15,000 kilowatt hours per month) would see reductions of between .1 to 1.5 percent. The Third Block (15,001 to 20,000 kilowatt hours per month) would see increases of up to 4.8 percent. And the Fourth Block (over 20,000 kilowatt hours per month) would see increases of between .7 and 3.8 percent.

For the government residential and general service rate class, the Board has agreed to the same rate blocks as for non-government customers with inclining block rates for the first three rate blocks. Compared to the equivalent non-government rate classes, the Board suggested higher runoff rates for the government rate classes and also adjusted the utilities’ proposals to ensure that rates increase as monthly use increases.

So the bottom line for most of you reading this is that there will be very little if any near-term change in your power bills as a result of the Phase II hearing. Any near-term changes that do occur will not likely take place until at least April of this year, after the utilities submit compliance filings to the Utilities Board, the Board makes the necessary resulting orders, and the utilities then adjust billing systems as required.

While in some areas the Yukon Utilities Board has taken a different tact than Yukon Energy had proposed, there will hopefully be a similar end result: to encourage Yukoners to become more energy conscious and to understand that electricity is a precious resource that must be used wisely.
 

Question about the Fish Lake Hydro Facility | Monday, January 17, 2011

Today's question: Why does Yukon Electrical Company Limited operate the old Fish Lake Road hydro turbines, and not Yukon Energy?

It was Yukon Electrical Company Limited that built the Fish Lake hydro facility in 1949/50. Yukon Energy was formed in 1987 to take over the assets of the Northern Canada Power Commission. Those assets included the Whitehorse, Aishihik and Mayo hydro plants. They did not include the Fish Lake facility, since that plant remained in the hands of Yukon Electrical.

There have been discussions over the years about Yukon Energy taking over responsibility for all generation in the territory, including Fish Lake, and Yukon Electrical Company Limited taking over resonsibility for all distribution, which would include Dawson City, Faro, Mayo and a few smaller communities that are now directly served by Yukon Energy. However nothing has ever come of those talks.