40 per cent of N.S. households struggle to pay their electricity bill: report

The climbing costs of just about everything are hitting everyone hard, but for some people living in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, it's at a breaking point.

“When you have people in a position deciding on whether they're going to eat, or their cupboards are bare because they have to keep their power on, they're pretty drastic choices to be making,” said Lynne McCarron, executive director of United Way Cape Breton.

A December report from Efficiency One says tens of thousands of Nova Scotians are struggling to keep the lights on, with nine out of 10 communities hardest hit in the CBRM.

The province is proposing to assume $117 million of the Nova Scotia Power’s fuel adjustment mechanism balance, to be repaid over 10 years, which will allow the utility to spread out its rate hikes over a longer period, reducing the burden on ratepayers.

For some non-profits, it's a Band-Aid solution to a bigger problem.

“I think we have to think more strategically about how we can work together with the business community, the non-profit sectors, with the government and people with lived experiences. We need to figure out how we're going to move out of this situation of deciding to put food on the table or keep the lights on,” said McCarron.

According to the province, Nova Scotia Power ratepayers would face a seven per cent increase without government intervention.

“It gets the province out of a temporary political problem, in that the provincial government can say we did something or trying to do something,” said Tom Urbaniak, Cape Breton University political science professor.

Urbaniak says the deal begs the question whether privatization has served Nova Scotians well.

“We've privatized the profits, but we've kept in public hands the responsibility, the political answerability, the assumption of risk, so all of the political thorny stuff stayed in public hands,” he said.

The province has submitted this plan to the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board for approval. However, the province could legislate the change if the board doesn't accept it.

For more Nova Scotia news visit our dedicated provincial page.