The GNWT has announced that there will soon be changes made to the Territory’s 9-1-1 cost recovery fee.
The 9-1-1 cost recovery fee is designed to recover the costs of providing the service so that it can stay cost-neutral across the Territory. This latest cost increase is said to reflect the realistic cost of maintaining 9-1-1 services, while ensuring that emergency responses remain reliable.
Currently, the cost recovery fee is set at $1.70. As of January 1st, it will be increased to $3.00 monthly. This adjustment will be applied to all ratepayers with NWT phone numbers, and will be the first time the cost has been changed since November of 2019.
The management of the 9-1-1 service in the NWT is considered a shared responsibility between the public and the Territorial Government. 9-1-1 services are offered in all 11 of the NWT’s official languages. While the operators themselves speak English and French, they are able to connect callers with special interpreters for Indigenous languages.
