Utility board defies Nova Scotia government, allows 14 per cent power rate hike
Utility board defies Nova Scotia government, allows 14 per cent power rate hike
HALIFAX -
Nova Scotia's utility regulator has defied the provincial government and approved an average 14 per cent increase in electricity rates over two years.
Premier Tim Houston said last November that his government opposed the increase of 6.9 per cent in both 2023 and 2024, which had been agreed to by Nova Scotia Power and most customer representative groups.
However, the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board said Thursday it will stick with most parts of the agreement, meaning the average residential customer who doesn't use electricity for home heating will see an average $10 increase on monthly bills. Customers who heat with electricity will see average increases in the range of $10 to $16.
There will be further rate hikes in January 2024.
"The board cannot simply disallow Nova Scotia Power's reasonable costs to make rates more affordable," says the decision.
"These principles ensure fair rates and the financial health of a utility so it can continue to invest in the system providing services to its customers."
The government passed legislation last fall that capped annual rate increases at 1.8 per cent -- but that cap didn't include costs related to fuel or energy efficiency programs.
Tory Rushton, the minister of natural resources and renewables, told reporters Thursday that his government is disappointed by the decision, but it respects the board's independence and will review the document before deciding on any action.
"Everybody understands that Nova Scotians are faced with a huge affordability crisis .... I think it's a number that is unaffordable for most Nova Scotians," he said.
However, he argued the legislation passed last year helped keep rates down, pointing to a line in the board's decision that states, "rate increases in respect of non-fuel items are nearly half of what they were proposed to be before Bill 212."
The 203-page decision notes the utility hasn't seen a rate increase for non-fuel costs between 2014 and 2022, while inflation has driven up costs by about 20 per cent.
It also cites federal and provincial environment provisions requiring Nova Scotia Power -- a subsidiary of Emera Inc. -- to retire coal assets and invest in infrastructure to meet a goal of having 80 per cent of its generation coming from renewable energy by 2030 and net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
The decision attributes the 2023 rate increase to a mix of rising costs, but in 2024 about 95 per cent of the 6.9 per cent rate hike is to cover projected increases in fuel costs.
Still, rates could potentially rise more after the "fuel adjustment mechanism" is used to determine what the province's mix of hydroelectricity, coal, renewables and natural gas actually ends up costing -- and how those costs may be deferred to future years.
Meanwhile, there are other costs looming for Nova Scotia's ratepayers that could mean further rate hikes in the future.
The board approved "in principle" the establishment of the decarbonization deferral account, "to address the retirement of coal plants and related decommissioning costs," which are part of the utility's drive to move away from coal. It said the creation of the account would be subject to "a further consultative process."
These deferred costs would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars and would be spread over many years, similar to a mortgage.
The board has also set up a special system -- referred to as a "storm rider" -- for a three-year trial, allowing the utility to receive rate increases to compensate for extreme weather costs.
The storm rider will start adding to power bills if storm costs exceed $10.4 million annually. Some climate scientists have projected that warmer water temperatures in the northwestern Atlantic are likely to intensify hurricanes that hit the province, posing rising danger to the electricity grid.
Tynette Deveaux, a spokeswoman for the environmental group Sierra Club, said the board's decision paints a discouraging portrait of Nova Scotia's delayed shift toward renewable energy and the utility's failure to build a more resilient system.
"Nova Scotians are stuck with high-cost electricity from fossil fuels, an electricity grid that goes down even in the smallest storms, and a shorter time frame to meet the province's 2030 legislated target to phase out coal-fired power plants," she said in a news release.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 2, 2023.
The 2023 federal budget includes a 'grocery rebate' that will be offered to Canadians with lower incomes who may be struggling with the rising cost of food, CTV News has confirmed.
Flying over the Grand Canyon was a highlight for the Gellisen family during their trip to Phoenix, but their flight home to Toronto was a much different experience, with several family members forced off of the flight over tensions related to a teen's wheelchair.
Lettuce prices are likely to rise next month and could stay high into the summer, agriculture experts say, as flooding in a key California farming area becomes the latest example of extreme weather's effect on the food chain.
Police have identified a teenager who died after being stabbed in an ‘unprovoked’ attack at a Toronto subway station Saturday night, and have charged an adult male suspect with his murder.
An organizer with a group advocating for the rights of migrants in Canada is urging the federal government not to penalize potentially hundreds of international students facing possible deportation over fake school admission letters.
In France, a country that taught the world about people power with its revolution of 1789 -- and a country again seething with anger against its leaders -- graduating from bystander to demonstrator is a generations-old rite of passage.
Police have identified a teenager who died after being stabbed in an ‘unprovoked’ attack at a Toronto subway station Saturday night, and have charged an adult male suspect with his murder.
The appreciation and respect shown by the public after two Edmonton Police Service officers were killed in the line of duty has not gone unnoticed, their families said in a statement ahead of the regimental funeral on Monday.
Montreal police say a fifth body has been extracted from the rubble of a heritage building that caught fire nine days ago, leaving two others still missing.
The appreciation and respect shown by the public after two Edmonton Police Service officers were killed in the line of duty has not gone unnoticed, their families said in a statement ahead of the regimental funeral on Monday.
The procession for two Edmonton police officers who were killed in the line of duty is scheduled to leave the Alberta Legislature grounds toward Rogers Place at approximately 11:45 a.m.
Lettuce prices are likely to rise next month and could stay high into the summer, agriculture experts say, as flooding in a key California farming area becomes the latest example of extreme weather's effect on the food chain.
The 2023 federal budget includes a 'grocery rebate' that will be offered to Canadians with lower incomes who may be struggling with the rising cost of food, CTV News has confirmed.
Flying over the Grand Canyon was a highlight for the Gellisen family during their trip to Phoenix, but their flight home to Toronto was a much different experience, with several family members forced off of the flight over tensions related to a teen's wheelchair.
Damage is estimated at $50,000 after a residential fire in London on Sunday. Crews were called to the scene on Rideout Street early Sunday morning that temporarily displaced several people from their units.
Nearly five years after the legalization of marijuana in Canada, one local cannabis retailer feels Manitoba should be more proactive and flexible when it comes to regulating pot sales in our province.
Flying over the Grand Canyon was a highlight for the Gellisen family during their trip to Phoenix, but their flight home to Toronto was a much different experience, with several family members forced off of the flight over tensions related to a teen's wheelchair.
About 3,000 education workers at Carleton University will strike on Monday after the union and the university failed to come to an agreement by the midnight deadline.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman will be in Ottawa today, with a schedule that includes meetings with Mayor Mark Sutcliffe and NCC officials, and attending the Senators game against the Florida Panthers.
The Canadian Armed Forces is introducing a new housing benefit to help troops find affordable accommodations. A realtor says the benefit won't help military members in Petawawa, Ont.
The Saskatoon Blades' last two home games of the season have been against the Regina Pats, and with top NHL prospect Connor Bedard drawing big crowds wherever he's playing, almost 30,000 fans have come through the turnstiles at Sasktel Centre.
City administrators are calling for a design change on Main Street and Clarence Avenue that would prevent vehicles from using Main Street as a thoroughfare rather than 8th Street.
A temporary foreign worker from the Philippines who was fired from her job as a caregiver after a cancer diagnosis has been awarded over $45,000 by the BC Human Rights Tribunal.
Farmers in the Cowichan Valley are losing crops and dealing with property and field damage caused by Roosevelt Elk, which have become a regular fixture on some farms in the area.
