More than 50 people packed a small room at the Coast High Country Inn on Monday evening to take in the first in a series of meetings being hosted by Yukon Energy. Officials are trying to predict the territory’s electrical needs over the next 20 years.

The meetings will take place in communities around the Yukon over the next month.

They’re aimed at providing residents with baseline information the company has collected on the energy being used in the territory now and what could be expected in the future as its resource plan is drafted.

As last night’s meeting began, Yukon Energy president Andrew Hall described the plan as a roadmap.

He outlined the process for coming up with the plan, noting the company is now in the early stages of the project.

“It’s basically a four-step process,” he said before going into detail on it.

The first couple of stages look at how much energy is currently used and what might be expected in the future.

Officials will then look at what supply options are out there and which would be best for the territory. Finally, all that information will go into a report.

There has already been engagement with a technical advisory committee, First Nations, stakeholders and now the public through social media, the company website and through the meetings set to continue over the coming weeks.

“This is the first in a series of meetings,” Hall emphasized, noting there will be numerous opportunities throughout the entire process to provide input.

Yukon Energy has also made plans for a random, statistically-accurate and unbiased survey to be conducted through the Yukon Bureau of Statistics.

Over the course of last night’s session, those at the meeting were presented with a series of graphs showing the current electrical use in the territory and projections on what might happen down the road.

Goran Sreckovic, Yukon Energy’s director of resource planning and regulatory affairs, explained economic factors, customer habits and choices and climate among others all play a role in energy use throughout the territory.

The charts presented at the meeting made assumptions that in the next 20 years, mining could pick up, with the possibility of the proposed Victoria Gold mine moving into operation and onto grid power.

Possibilities such as the potential for electric vehicle use, having residents move away from oil or propane heat to electrical and others were also explored.

In many cases though, it was found the impact would be negligible.

As assistant project manager Stephanie Whitehead outlined, most new homes feature electrical heating.

Older homes in the territory typically have an oil or propane furnace.

It still costs more to switch to electrical heat from oil or propane, so it’s not anticipated most homeowners would make the switch.

There is a certain segment of the population that may switch for other reasons such as convenience, health/safety concerns over carbon monoxide, or for the more environmental option electric heat would bring.

Accounting for 10 per cent of homes switching to electric heat, Whitehead noted peak demand rose by four per cent.

The information showed a variety of possibilities of what may happen over the next 20 years and how that will impact electrical use and load capacity in the territory.

When it came time for the question and answer period, a number of those at the meeting were quick to point out what wasn’t factored into the statistics.

As one member of the audience pointed out, there were no figures showing how many currently and will potentially heat their homes with wood heat.

Given the Yukon government’s recent focus on biomass heating, he argued, that’s important information to consider.

Others wondered about other heating systems.

As NDP MLA Kate White pointed out when she eventually moves away from oil heat in her home, it won’t be to the standard baseboard electric heaters many homes feature.

Rather, it will be to an electric thermal storage system which converts off-peak electricity to stored heat that can be used later.

Sreckovic said such systems still use electricity and wouldn’t represent any major change in the figures.

Officials with the company also stressed throughout the meeting that the plan is a living document which can be altered depending on changing factors as time goes on.

As one member of the audience pointed out to the company, “You’re looking into a crystal ball.”

The point was not lost on company officials.

However, as Sreckovic noted, efforts are made to factor in all the available information and possibilities for the future.

Others argued there needs to be more of a focus on greener technology.

“We’ve got to get off fossil fuels,” Sally Wright said, arguing there seems to be a “total disconnect” to what is happening with the planet.

Tamara Goeppel (a Liberal hopeful for this year’s territorial election), stressed the importance of factoring in the “social aspect” into the plan.

Smaller projects around energy production are more likely to create jobs for locals with the money from those jobs staying in the territory.

“That social piece is very, very important,” she said.

Hall noted that the next generation hydro project of the Yukon Development Corp. is underway and looking at possibilities for future hydro in the territory.

However, he added, it is a separate process and one that goes beyond the 20-year-scope of Yukon Energy’s resource plan.

Meetings on Yukon Energy’s plan continued today with a noon session at Yukon College and an evening meeting at the Da Ku Cultural Centre in Haines Junction, beginning at 6:15.

Further sessions are set for Teslin, Carcross, Dawson and Mayo throughout the month.

There will be more meetings as well as the project continues through its phases along over the year.