Electricity rates are going up by 6.4 per cent this month.
Right now, it’s only an interim rate hike. The Yukon Utility Board won’t make a final decision until after it holds hearings in November.
Yukon Energy wants to raise rates by 6.4 per cent this year, and by another 6.5 per cent in 2013.
It will be the first time that rates have risen in the territory in more than a decade. In fact, a few years ago when the Minto mine opened, electricity rates dipped by 2.47 per cent.
However, with all the tacked-on fuel riders, most consumers haven’t really seen a real drop in rates, said Roger Rondeau, president of the Utilities Consumers’ Group.
He’s hoping that the board will quash the rate hike, in which case Yukon Energy will have to pay back the additional money it has collected.