NWT town still seeking costs from winter power outage damage

The Town of Fort Smith is still pressing the territorial government for reimbursement over costs that the municipality says came from a series of power outages.

In December last year, the town’s senior administrator wrote a letter to the Northwest Territories government alleging that “frequent brownouts and blackouts” were compromising resident safety, interfering with emergency response and damaging municipal infrastructure.

Examples asserted by the town included repairs valued at more than $50,000 for its swimming pool, which was out of service for months to fix what the town said was repeated damage from outages. 

Power in Fort Smith is supplied by the N.W.T. Power Corporation, an entity wholly owned by the territorial government.

In an August email seen by Cabin Radio, town director of corporate services Jim Hood asks finance minister Caroline Wawzonek how to go about claiming money back from the GNWT.

“One of the points in that letter was to urge the GNWT to take immediate steps to provide financial and technical support for the repair of damaged infrastructure,” Hood writes, referring to the town’s December letter.

“The town has been identifying and tracking the costs related to the damages to municipal infrastructure. We would like to request reimbursement for these costs that will otherwise have to be borne by the tax paying residents of Fort Smith. 

“How do we formally request reimbursement and what is the process?”

How NTPC claims work

The N.W.T. government told Cabin Radio it had replied in January to the town’s initial letter.

The territory told the town some power issues were related to distribution problems like high winds and trees on transmission lines, while other outages were due to failures in coordination between sets of generators. That issue was expected to go away when the Taltson hydro plant came back online after two years of overhaul work.

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Taltson did return to service at the end of March but went back offline in July for maintenance, then a “potentially serious corrosion issue” was found. As a result, some of Fort Smith’s power in recent months has still come from local diesel generators.

Doug Prendergast, a spokesperson for the N.W.T. Power Corporation, said NTPC provided a copy of its customer claim form – which includes information about the equipment for which the claim is being made – to the town last month.

He said there had been an initial conversation about the claims process with senior administrator Tracy Thomas, but the power corporation had not received a completed claim form as of August 27.

“Our policy is to respond to claims promptly and fairly, and to make the process easy for customers. In our evaluation of claims, we may review records, interview witnesses or employees, and perform a technical evaluation,” he explained. “Customers can help by providing thorough and accurate information and documentation.”

Prendergast said claims are only considered if the form and supporting documentation are returned within 60 days of the incident. Each claim is evaluated individually to determine whether losses resulted from NTPC’s negligence, how the incident occurred, whether similar incidents have happened in the past, and the extent of the damage.

Once the investigation is complete, he said NTPC will contact the customer in writing with the conclusion. 

“Our goal is to reach a decision on most claims within 30 days of receipt. The process may take longer when complex issues are involved, when further information is needed, or when extenuating circumstances are present,” he said.

“If we accept responsibility for a property damage claim, we will reimburse the customer for the repair cost, actual depreciated cash value, or the replacement cost – whichever is lowest.”

Prendergast said every customer agrees to NTPC’s terms and conditions of service when they open an account.

The terms, which NTPC says were approved by the N.W.T. Public Utilities Board and are similar to those at other Canadian utilities, state that customers are responsible for protecting their own equipment, and NTPC is not liable for damages caused by outages or fluctuations beyond its control.