In June 2023, the City of Yellowknife gathered an Interim Report with recommendations for rationalizing City water and sewer rates.
The report was developed by InterGroup Consultants and was released on July 11, 2023. Recommendations of the report are based on cost of services alongside ‘generally accepted’ utility rates.
InterGroup reports a lack of a clear rationale for rates, citing trucked water and sewer rates, which recover around 75% of the cost of service, around 25% lower than the best practice percentage.
“It is evident that some customers are currently paying over 20 percent more than the cost of providing them with services, while other customers are paying less than the cost of service,” InterGroup says.
Based on their findings, InterGroup has recommended implementing separate water and sewer rates, simplified rates for customers, and linked rates to actual cost of servicing different customers.
InterGroup and the City are continuing to gather input and all information related to proposed changes will be included in a final report to be presented to Council at a later date.
