'They need to do that job': N.B. opposition backs EUB process for proposed NB Power rate hike

New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs is finding support from opposition parties in staying out of NB Power’s bid to hike rates by 8.9 per cent.

The increase, if approved by the province’s Energy and Utilities Board (EUB), would go into effect April 1, 2023. NB Power says it amounts to an increase of roughly $16 a month, or about $200 a year for average residential customers.

“We’re going to let the process unfold and identify all the issues the utility is facing and we’ll find a way to help homeowners mitigate those impacts,” says Higgs.

Liberal leader Susan Holt says any government attempts to disrupt NB Power’s rate application will only risk to “ruin the utility.”

“There has to be a balance between trying to put the utility on a path for sustainability but also recognizing this increase is too much for many people to handle,” says Holt.

New Brunswick's Green Party leader David Coon says he’s comfortable with following the EUB process because it “runs like a trial” with interveners who will present evidence and witnesses.

“The commissioners are like judges, listening to the evidence, listening to the final arguments and rendering a decision like judges on whether this is in the economic interest of New Brunswickers or not,” says Coon. “They need to do that job.”

An Auditor General’s report from February 2021 says NB Power has the highest debt-to-equity ratio of all government-owned utilities in Canada, with denials of past applications for EUB rate increases.  

NB Power describes its proposed increase as a ‘break-even’ budget, saying it plans to address its $5 billion debt load with rate increases of between two and 16 per cent in future years.