Frustration with Nova Scotia Power surges after rate increases, weekend outages
Frustration with Nova Scotia Power surges after rate increases, weekend outages
Cape Breton Regional Municipal councillor Cyril MacDonald's weekend was one filled with angry phone calls from residents without power.
It's a problem he says is happening too frequently and his frustration is with Nova Scotia Power.
“It's time for Nova Scotia Power to start investing in their infrastructure,” said MacDonald.
MacDonald feels with a 14 per cent increase now granted to NSP and millions of dollars in profits annually, residents shouldn't be paying out hundreds of dollars to operate a generator to keep the lights on.
“They're accountable to nobody and I think our provincial government needs to take a stance on this,” said MacDonald.
Joella Foulds lives in Boularderie Island. She says her power kept going on and off every few minutes on Saturday.
“I just feel that they're not treating the whole problem of outages as seriously as they should be,” said Foulds.
Foulds says it was difficult to try and get answers from NSP as to what was going on.
“We're not getting reliable service. Everybody out here now has to have a generator because you can't count on Nova Scotia Power if the wind goes up at all,” she said.
To make matters worse, Foulds says the frequent outages fried her refrigerator.
“We're waiting for the advice of a repair-person to see whether it's ever going to be useable or whether it has to be replaced,” she added.
Lia MacDonald, VP of Customer Experience for the utility, said a device used on the lines designed to protect equipment where there is high electricity use wasn’t functioning properly.
According to Nova Scotia Power, 2022 was a high storm year and the reason behind most of the outages. MacDonald says the company is always looking to improve their productive reliability plan.
“We invest hundreds of millions of dollars every year. Tens of millions on tree-clearing in and of itself, and we're always looking at how that can be done better,” she said.
Meanwhile, Cyril MacDonald said power outages are costing the municipality more because of the need to open comfort centres, and in the end, that cost will be handed down to the taxpayers if the problem persists.
The parents of young Ontario hockey player Ben Teague have been searching for answers since he died while at a team retreat in 2019. The mystery about what happened and the code of silence in hockey culture is explored in CTV W5's 'What Happened to Ben,' on CTVNews.ca and W5's official YouTube channel.
In an effort to keep the foreign interference story at the forefront, and to do an apparent endrun around the Liberal filibuster blocking one study from going ahead, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is forcing MPs to debate and then vote on a motion instructing an opposition-dominated House committee to strike its own review.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump's calls for protests ahead of his anticipated indictment in New York have generated mostly muted reactions from supporters, with even some of his most ardent loyalists dismissing the idea as a waste of time or a law enforcement trap.
Officials are still looking for victims after a fire ripped through a building in Old Montreal last week, killing at least one person. At a press conference Monday morning, spokespersons for the Montreal police and Montreal fire department said six people are still missing. They come from various locations in Quebec, Ontario and the U.S.
Bargain hunters are one step closer to seeing sales at Nordstrom's closing Canadian locations. At a hearing at Osgoode Hall in Toronto on Monday, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice gave the U.S. retailer's Canadian branch permission to start liquidating its merchandise.
Some of the world's largest central banks came together on Sunday to stop a banking crisis from spreading as Swiss authorities persuaded UBS Group AG to buy rival Credit Suisse Group AG in a historic deal.
Ontario employers who withhold foreign workers’ passports or work permits could face steeper penalties under new labour laws, with maximum fines setting them back up to $200,000.
The Town of Strathmore and Siksika Nation hosted the first Lead By Example Powwow this weekend in honour of a young Indigenous man who was shot to death four years ago.
Autopsies confirmed gunshot wounds as the cause of death for two constables responding to a domestic dispute Thursday, the Edmonton Police Service says.
Officials are still looking for victims after a fire ripped through a building in Old Montreal last week, killing at least one person. At a press conference Monday morning, spokespersons for the Montreal police and Montreal fire department said six people are still missing. They come from various locations in Quebec, Ontario and the U.S.
Quebec provincial police (SQ) announced Monday morning that a third person has died in connection with the tragedy in Amqui, in the Lower St. Lawrence region, where a driver drove his pickup truck into pedestrians a week ago.
Autopsies confirmed gunshot wounds as the cause of death for two constables responding to a domestic dispute Thursday, the Edmonton Police Service says.
A 46-year-old has been taken to hospital with serious, life-threatening injuries after a single-vehicle crash on MR80 near Donaldson Crescent in Val Caron.
Lane restrictions are now in place on Wellington Street as construction gets underway on Phase 1 of the Wellington Gateway and Municipal Infrastructure Improvements project.
The first day of spring in the London region will be a beautiful one. The daytime high is forecast to be 6 C, slightly warmer than the average high for this time of year.
Bargain hunters are one step closer to seeing sales at Nordstrom's closing Canadian locations. At a hearing at Osgoode Hall in Toronto on Monday, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice gave the U.S. retailer's Canadian branch permission to start liquidating its merchandise.
Ontario employers who withhold foreign workers’ passports or work permits could face steeper penalties under new labour laws, with maximum fines setting them back up to $200,000.
The Rideau McDonald's Farewell March brought people from across the city, some dressed in costumes, who wanted to say goodbye to a part of what they say makes Ottawa Ottawa.
People who rely on transit to get around parts of the Fraser Valley are scrambling to find alternatives as workers with BC Transit walk the picket line.
Vancouver firefighters were called to the Downtown Eastside Sunday evening after a fire destroyed multiple tents in an encampment and spread to a building near Main and East Hastings streets.
An Ontario woman has launched a lawsuit seeking $500,000 from Tim Hortons after she suffered major burns from an alleged ‘superheated’ tea. The company has denied all allegations and said she was ‘the author of her own misfortune.'
Some residents of Saskatchewan's capital city have been vocal with their disapproval of Tourism Regina's latest rebrand, prompting an apology from the organization.
Mounties in Port McNeill violated a suspect's Charter rights by failing to allow him to contact a lawyer promptly after his 2019 drug trafficking arrest, a judge has ruled.
