Owed roughly $30 million in unpaid bills, Qulliq Energy Corp. is ready to dim the lights on customers who aren’t keeping up with their electricity payments.
Qulliq Energy Corp. president and CEO Ernest Douglas says the company can find ways to help Nunavummiut who have troubles paying their power bills. (Photo by Jeff Pelletier)
“If we don’t prudently manage our collections or our aged receivables, then it will ultimately drive higher rates for everybody,” Ernest Douglas, the company’s president and CEO, said in an interview Friday.
Nunavut’s energy provider plans to install load limiters on some properties — something QEC stopped doing about five years ago during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Load limiters are small devices installed on the building’s meter. They limit the amount of electricity that goes into the building, in cases where large bills are owed and the resident hasn’t worked out a payment plan.
With the cap in place, customers are able to use their furnaces and fridges. But due to the limited power, other electric appliances can only be used one at a time, Douglas said.
Load limiters provide an alternative to shutting off the delinquent customers’ electricity in winters, when a complete energy shutoff could be life-threatening in Arctic temperatures.
“We’re aware just like anybody that in the winter months, electricity is not a commodity. It’s more of a necessity and it’s vital to the community’s well-being,” Douglas said.
He couldn’t estimate how many load limiters will be installed across the territory.
QEC is owned by the Government of Nunavut and operated as cost-recovery utility. That means it has to generate enough revenue to be self-sustaining.
It has about 14,500 commercial and residential customers across Nunavut. But growing debt from unpaid utility bills is putting financial “operating pressures” on QEC, so customers can expect more load limiters to be installed in coming months.
Of the $30 million owed to QEC, approximately 32 per cent or $9.6 million is owed by residential customers.
Another 33 per cent of that debt is owed by commercial customers, such as small businesses; and the remaining 35 per cent by non-profits and Arctic co-operatives, Douglas said, referring to organizations owned by their members.
He said much of the residential debt has accumulated over several years.
“We all know that the folks in Nunavut pay more for electricity than anywhere else in Canada,” Douglas said, adding the push to recoup the arrears is an attempt to limit any increases in power rates that affect all QEC customers.
“It’s expensive as it comes. It’s not easy to operate 25 independent microgrids or 25 independent communities,” he said.
The last time power rates went up was June 2025 when customers saw about a 9.5 per cent increase in the cost of electricity.
At the same time, service charges were doubled — for commercial customers, they jumped to $16 per kilowatt from $8; and for residential customers service charges rose to $36 from $18, although residential service charges are covered by the Nunavut Electricity Subsidy Program and customers aren’t billed for it.
Douglas says customers who are unable to pay their bills should contact QEC directly to discuss options. Possibilities include deferred payments or temporary smaller payments or “just anything that shows a commitment that they’re willing to continue to do their best,” he said.
“We’re not inhuman. We understand that people are going through tough times,” Douglas said.
By Arty Sarkisian, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Original Published on Mar 03, 2026 at 16:55
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