Yukoners can expect to see another rate hike on their electricity bills this summer, followed by a larger one in 2018.

The Yukon Energy Corporation will apply to the Yukon Utilities Board for a rate increase in the next couple of weeks, said president Andrew Hall.

What the total increase will be is still uncertain. Hall would only say that it will be less than 14 per cent.

The hike proposed by Yukon Energy will be revealed when the Crown corporation submits its application to the utilities board for review.

There will then be a public hearing, after which the utility board will decide the precise amount of the rate increase.

Yukon Energy’s last rate increase was 11 per cent, and was phased in over 2012 and 2013.

Since then, the corporation’s costs have gone up, said Hall.

The new liquid natural gas plant on Robert Service Way, and structural work at the Ashihik hydro plant, have driven up expenses.

Add to this the collective agreement with unionized employees, which calls for yearly raises.

“We need to recover those costs,” said Hall.

There was speculation in December that rates could go up by as much as 14.7 per cent. But a cold winter increased sales and revenue. The announcement of extended operations at the Minto Mine was more welcome news.

Hall said as much before the legislative assembly on May 18.

The Minto Mine, which will continue operations through 2020, “represents a significant part of our load,” and “has a material impact on our revenues, and therefore on rates,” he said.

These two developments worked to bring down the projected 14.7 rate increase, though Hall would not say by how much.

ATCO Electric Yukon is waiting for a final decision from the utilities board regarding the 2016-2017 rate application it filed last year for a 7.5 per cent increase over the two years. The board did approve an interim increase of 4.4 per cent which began showing up on the monthly bills on July 1, 2016. A public hearing on the rate application was held last fall.

Back in December, when it looked like Yukon Energy would be seeking a rate hike of nearly 15 per cent, the publicly owned utility explored options for bringing that percentage down, said Hall.

“We did review what was possible, what we found was there wasn’t a whole lot we could do,” he said.

Historically, he noted, the utility has taken actions such as renegotiating its debt rate. “We’ve already done that,” said Hall. “We don’t really have an opportunity to get even a better debt rate on our outstanding debt.”

No other option was “obviously available,” he said.

In the House on Thursday, NDP Leader Liz Hanson asked when Yukon Energy’s analysis of options to ease the rate hike will be made public.

“We know that the situation has changed since December,” she said.

“All we’re asking the minister to explain is why he hasn’t made public the options analysis prepared by the Energy Corporation.”

In his response, Ranj Pillai, the minister responsible for Yukon Energy, was unclear about whether he would actually make the analysis available to the general public.

“I’ve committed to making this information public — or at least to the parties — at this particular time,” he said.

Pillai said the government is working with Yukon Energy to implement scheduled rate applications, so that the process isn’t “politically interfered with.”

Hall said regular and more frequent rate increases make sense.

They would help to avoid what he called “rate shock,” a spike in rates every four or five years.

“Whereas if you go in every two years, you can keep it manageable,” he said. Scheduled rate hikes have not been finalized.

Right now, Yukoners pay 12.14 cents per kilowatt hour (kwh) for the first 1,000 kwh.

Most Yukon homes that don’t have electrical heat use about 1,000 kwh hours per month.

For customers on the hydro grid, rates go up to 12.82 cents after the first 1,000 kwh, and again to 13.99 cents after 2,500 kwh.

All Yukoners pay the same rate for the first 1,000 kwh. Customers off the grid, in Old Crow for example, pay higher rates after the first 1,000 kwh.