Yellowknife residents worry what this winter will do to their power bills

I'm trying not to panic. That pretty much sums up how Stephanie Ewell's feeling about the coming winter months. She was one of about 30 residents who were here on Wednesday for a town hall on energy affordability. Ewell says she spent $1,200 to fill half her oil tank at the end of summer. Her reaction to that price tag left her speechless. I can't say that out loud. There's some expletives there. Complete disbelief. No, you know what? Fear. Fear about what the future is going to hold. Oil prices jumped globally after the United States and Israel launched an attack on Iran earlier this year. For the Northwest Territories, it means businesses and families are hit with higher fuel costs, subsequently making the cost of living issue in the territory all the more prominent. Yeah, we're all paying more and it's scary. And I think it really impacts the future and where we're going to go. Like, are people going to leave? Am I going to leave? But residents on Wednesday weren't short on ideas to help. One includes a subsidy for private households to help offset the cost of power usage. I'd like to see, you know, on my power bill, 100 bucks off every month. I think it would be great, you know, instead of getting a 300 and some dollar power bill, you get a 200 and some dollar and it's, you know, not as much of a punch in the gut when you open the bill. Sean Horner also attended Wednesday's town hall. He's thinking about what the holidays are going to do to his electricity bill. My wife and I want to do Christmas lights to make our kids happy and stuff but even with the small wattage that Christmas lights use it still makes you worry like, oh is it going to make my power bill go up even more? Am I going to be seeing $400 this month? Range Lake MLA Kieran Testart and Yellowknife Centre MLA Robert Hawkins hosted the town hall. Speaking to CBC News, Testart says he wants the territorial government to lower the fuel tax as much as possible. He says that's one temporary effort to ease the cost of living. I know subsidies aren't the answer, but they're what we need right now, while we build a long-term future. Testart also says he wants to see bigger changes. He's open to nuclear energy, small modular reactors specifically. That's something others in attendance pitched as well. And last month, the territory did sign an agreement with both Alberta and Saskatchewan on sharing information on nuclear energy, and that includes small modular reactors. But what that means for the Northwest Territories remains to be seen. Devon Trudynek, CBC News, Yellowknife.