Yukon EnergyÂ’s hearing costs "unjustified"

YUKON - A Yukon utilities watchdog group is accusing Yukon Energy Corp. of making invalid expense claims for consultants who appeared before the territorial utilities board earlier this year.

Roger Rondeau's Utilities Consumers' Group is calling on the Yukon Utilities Board to reject thousands of dollars in expenses being claimed by Yukon Energy lawyers and consultants at hearings into the utility's Mayo B hydroelectric dam expansion project.

Utilities board hearings typically cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to hold, and those costs are usually passed on to customers through their electricity bills.

The utilities board must now decide how much taxpayers should cover in expenditures from Yukon Energy and other interveners at the Mayo B hearings, which took place in Whitehorse in early April.

The utilities board approved the Mayo B expansion project following three days of hearings. The costs related to those hearings are expected to total more than $200,000.

Yukon Energy has submitted a total of almost $140,000 in expenditure claims at those hearings, including hundreds of dollars for meals and beverages at local hotels.

In a complaint filed with the utilities board, the Utilities Consumers' Group says Yukon Energy's bill is almost more than $12,000 what the group believes to be justified.

Rondeau's group is also accusing Whitehorse city officials of making thousands of dollars in unjustified claims. The city's consultants are claiming $40,000 for their contributions to the Mayo B hearings.

The Utilities Consumers' Group is seeking $21,000 to cover its own expenses, mostly legal costs.