ATCO Electric and the city have a new agreement in the works to extend their partnership for another 10 years.
The current agreement expires in May, so a new master franchise agreement has been drawn up, with just a few changes.
District Manager Wayne Tonsi says one of those changes is a new street lighting agreement.
“It’s just really a lot about how we operate and what type of street lights we are able to provide to the city, what rate they would be on, and how we maintain and operate them.”
The new agreement also allows the city to add 600 hectares or more into the existing service area.
Customer Service Supervisor Clyde Blackburn says this will cover any area obtained by the city in annexation.
“Areas that were not covered by the franchise agreement because they were outside the community, now within the community, the franchise agreements provisions now apply to the new area. If it turns out to be a very large annexation, than the city has some options in terms of how that happens.”
Blackburn says the new agreement won’t change how they they serve Grande Prairie customers, but it does clarify and strengthen their partnership with the city