Understanding Rates & Regulations
The cost of electricity is made up of the cost to generate electricity at power plants (including fuel costs), the cost of transmitting electricity over long distances through power lines, the cost of distributing it locally to homes and businesses through smaller lines, and additional fees related to system and operation maintenance, regulatory costs, and customers service.
Our rates are regulated by the NWT Public Utilities Board (Board) to ensure they are fair and reasonable. Rates are determined through a General Rate Application (GRA) process. A GRA contains information on our company’s assets, operations and financial affairs. We are required to provide this information to the regulator in order to explain why it needs to change its rates.
Learn more about NWT's energy landscape and what makes up our rates, and our current GRAs for Naka Power Utilities (Yellowknife) and Naka Power Utilities (NWT).
Current Rates
Depending on where you live, you are either a customer of Naka Power (Yellowknife) or Naka Power (NWT), both of which are separate companies with separate regulations.
Both companies are regulated by the Northwest Territories Public Utilities Board, in accordance with the Public Utilities Act. The NWT Public Utilities Board (PUB) is an independent, quasi-judicial agency of the Government of the Northwest Territories.
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Yellowknife
Naka Power (Yellowknife)
We serve customers who have home or businesses within the City of Yellowknife and N'dilo.
Terms and Conditions
We conduct our business in compliance with the following Terms and Conditions. The Terms and Conditions of Service and any subsequent amendments come into force on the date approved by the Board and supersede any previous Terms and Conditions of the Company.
- View our Terms and Conditions
Rates
Power rates in Yellowknife are outlined in the following Rate Schedule and organized by customer type. Listed below are the current changes from the most recent Board Decision 04-2025.
- Rider R, Revenue Adjustment Rider will increase from 2.524% to 4.999%
- Rider E, Temporary Refund/Surcharge Rider will increase from 0% to 4.831% (effective March 1, 2025 - February 28, 2026)
- View the complete Rate Schedule (effective March 1, 2025)
Historical Rates
June 2019, June 2022, June 2023, January 2024, June 2024, August 2024, November 2024, January 2025
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Hay River
Naka Power (NWT)
We serve customers who have homes or businesses in Sambaa K’e, Kakisa, Dory Point, Fort Providence, Wekweeti, Enterprise and Katl'odeeche First Nation.
As of March 1, 2025, we no longer serve the Town of Hay River. Please refer to NTPC for rate information.
Terms and Conditions
We conduct our business in compliance with the following Terms and Conditions. The Terms and Conditions of Service and any subsequent amendments come into force on the date approved by the Board and supersede any previous Terms and Conditions of the Company.
- View our Terms and Conditions
Rates
Power rates are outlined in the following Rate Schedule and organized by customer type.
- View our Rate Schedule (effective March 1, 2025)
- View our Summary of Rate Codes and Government Programs
- TPSP Territorial Support change due to change in Yellowknife reference rate from -0.4651 to -0.4478 for Fort Providence, Sambaa K'e, Wekweeti, Dory POint and Kakisa. (Hay River changed from -0.07967 to -0.06237)
- Rider A, Fuel Cost Adjustment Rider change (as approved in Board Decision 22-2024) from $0.03510 per kWh in both zones to:
- Hydro $0.1064 per kWh
- Thermal -0.0779 per kWh
- Rider F (Purchase Power Cost Adjustment Rider) as per Board Decision 21-2024
- Hydro Zone only: from $0.0130 per kWh to -0.0405 per kWh
- Rider R has changed as per Board Decision 27-2024
- Hydro: 7.1% to 12.5%
- Thermal: 2.0% to 11.5%
- Rider E has been added as per Board Decision 16-2024
- Hydro: 3.9%
- Thermal: -1.3%
Historical Rates
January 2018, July 2018, January 2019, June 2019, May 2020, February 2021, May 2022, November 2022, June 2023, January 2024, August 2024, September 2024, November 2024, January 2025
Frequently Asked Questions
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What is a GRA?
A GRA (General Rate Application) is a document that contains information on a public utility company’s assets, operations and financial affairs. The public utility company (in this instance, Naka-YK) is required to provide this information to the regulator (NWT Public Utilities Board) in order to explain why it needs to change its rates.
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Who regulates Naka Power Utilities (Yellowknife) & Naka Power Utilities (NWT) rates?
Our rates are regulated by the NWT Public Utilities Board (Board) to ensure our rates are fair and reasonable. The rates (tariffs) we charge are all approved by the Board in an open, public process. Our costs are fully transparent and any changes to our rates are subject to a formal process which includes scrutiny by customers, municipalities, and other users.
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What is a Rate Rider?
A Rate Rider is a temporary credit or charge that may appear on utility bills in some communities. The Board approves rate riders to enable firms to recover actual operational costs that are not included in the approved rates.
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What is the decision-making process for the Public Utility Board?
Under the rate base/rate of return method of regulation, used by the Board, a GRA is usually handled in two phases.
The first phase, known as the “Revenue Requirement”, examines the utility company’s revenues and expenses. The purpose of Phase I of a GRA is to determine the amount of revenue that the utility company needs to earn in a year to cover its costs in providing service to its customers and to earn a fair return on its investment.
Once the Board issues a decision on the Phase I revenue requirement, the utility company may file a Phase II Application, in which it proposes how it is going to collect its annual revenue requirement from each of its various types of customer groups (e.g. residential, commercial, streetlights etc.). The main purpose of a Phase II filing is to determine the specific rates that each type of customer group will be charged and to demonstrate that these rates will enable the utility company to collect its annual revenue requirement.