The Yukon Utilities Board has delivered its final decision on ATCO Electric Yukon’s application for a rate increase.

The board issued the ruling Monday, after ATCO filed its report regarding how it intended to comply with the initial decision released in late April.

ATCO applied in June 2016 for a 4.4 per cent increase in rates for 2016 and a 3.1 per cent boost in rates for 2017.

It also sought approval of $27 million in capital expenditures over the two years.

ATCO general manager Jay Massie explained this morning, the board approved a rate increase of 1.9 per cent from the 4.4 per cent sought for 2016 and 1.6 per cent of the 3.1 per cent sought for 2017.

An interim hike was approved by the board and applied to the monthly bill last July 1.

That resulted in an additional $5.78 per month for the average home consuming 1,000 kilowatt hours.

The utilities board regularly provides interim rate increases while it processes rate applications as a means of avoiding one large increase at the end of the lengthy process.

As of this Saturday, the monthly bill will be reduced by $5.64, then raised again Jan. 1, 2018.

Massie explained as of Jan. 1, Yukoners will be paying $1.03 a month more than they were before July 1, 2016 as a result of ATCO’s rate increase.

The general manager emphasized the calculation does not include the impact of the new rate application filed last week by Yukon Energy.

Yukon Energy applied to the board last week for a rate increase of 9.08 per cent over two years – 2017 and 2018.

It has asked the board to apply an interim rate increase of 9.04 per cent or an additional $12.29 per month beginning Sept. 1.

Ownership and operations of the Yukon electrical system are shared by the privately owned ATCO utility and the publicly owned Yukon Energy. The two utilities are separate and distinct from each other.

In addition to the rate hike sought by ATCO, it also pursued but only partially received approval for several capital projects, including the $1.3 million required to bring on phase three of the Whistle Bend subdivision development.

Most of the capital projects identified by ATCO were approved by the board, Massie explained.

The board, however, rejected for the second time the company’s proposal to convert the six diesel generators in Watson Lake to bi-fuel generators capable of burning diesel and natural gas.

ATCO maintained the conversion would save ratepayers a substantial amount of money in fuel costs. It applied for approval of the conversion in its 2013-15 rate application, but was denied.

Massie said the board was not convinced about the potential savings ATCO was forecasting.

Now that the conversion proposal has been turned down twice, it’s not likely to surface again for the foreseeable future.

“We thought it made sense,” he said.

“We put together our business case and put it forward for a second time. If they are not convinced, we do not want to spin our wheels too much more.”

The board also turned down ATCO’s proposal to invest $500,000 – a cost that would be passed on to ratepayers as a capital investment – into researching alternative energy sources.

It also turned down the proposal to spend $100,000 to fund ATCO’s half of a joint-study with Yukon Energy into smart grids.

The board did approve most of the capital projects over the two years, including the purchase of new diesel generators for Destruction Bay, Old Crow and Watson Lake.