Postponed twice, hearings on NB Power rate hikes finally begin

Starting Monday, the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board will hear NB Power’s request for a rate increase.

Between now and the end of August, the Commission will hear arguments from the different parties for 16 days to determine whether the Crown corporation is authorized to increase its rates by nearly 20% over two years.

Due to delays in holding hearings, scheduled first for February and then for May, NB Power was authorized by the Energy Board to increase its base rates by 9.8% in advance for residential customers and its large industrial customers.

At the end of the hearings, the Commission will determine whether this increase was justified and whether the second increase of the same amount planned for April 2025 requested by NB Power is authorized.

The electricity supplier says it needs the money to slow the increase in its debt estimated at $5.4 billion as the company prepares to launch several major infrastructure projects.

NB Power accused of exaggerating its problems

Monday, the CEO had to defend itself against a suggestion from the forestry company JD Irving Ltd., which questions whether NB Power is not exaggerating the poor performance forecasts of the Point Lepreau nuclear power plant this year and next year, in order to justify a higher price increase than necessary.

The lawyer who represents the company, Glenn Zacherpoints out experienced outages on average a little more than 19 days per year over a five-year period, ending in 2022. He therefore wonders why NB Power is preparing a budget that provides for 29 days of outages per year over the next five years.

He alleges that this inflates the plant’s likely costs and company expenses by more than $20 million, for this year and next year. With more optimistic budget forecasts, rate increases could be one or two percentage points lower, he assures.

For Darren Murphy, CFO of NB Power, these forecasts of loss of production at Point Lepreau are not exaggerated. They are an attempt to be more realistic, taking into account the plant’s output at present.

Lori Clark pointed out that some equipment at Point Lepreau is aging. There CEO explained that the plant’s non-nuclear equipment, some of which is more than 40 years old, was not upgraded at the time of the reactor’s refurbishment and is the cause of most of the problems.

Major investments are required at Point Lepreaushe insisted, assuring that the supplier is looking for ways to improve production on site but that this takes time

Based on a report by Robert Jones, CBC