NB Power gets its rate hike
It didn’t take long, but New Brunswick’s Energy and Utilities Board gave NB Power almost everything it asked for.
After nearly two weeks of hearings last month, the EUB announced Wednesday it had approved a 4.75 per cent rate hike for the fiscal year ending in 2027.
When it made the request, NB Power said it needed the increase in order to address a material and growing infrastructure deficit that would put reliability at risk and lead to higher costs in the future because of unplanned outages.
In its decision, the EUB said it had considered a number of factors raised by interveners during the hearings, including affordability and the effect of rate increases on low-income and other vulnerable New Brunswickers.
“The Board is acutely aware of the effect of increased rates on NB Power’s customers but cannot arbitrarily reduce rates to punish the utility for past shortcomings,” the decision stated.
“Preventing NB Power from recovering costs where the evidence demonstrates those costs are prudent would harm ratepayers by leading to higher rates in the future or creating unacceptable reliability and safety risks.
“For better or worse, NB Power’s current financial circumstances cannot be ignored.”
NB Power also asked the EUB to approve new rate designs and rates related to electric vehicle charging and optional net-zero rate offering, rental rates increases for its customer energy solutions products and services, a higher wind balancing charge, an AMI opt-out fee (a fee for customers who refuse to have the new smart meters installed), and other rates, charges and proposals.
Everything was approved except NB Power’s request to implement a rate rider to recover revenue that would be lost because the new rates would be implemented after April 1.
NB Power must now refile certain documents to the EUB.
After the board approves them, an order will be issued approving rates for each customer class and the related rate schedules and the EUB will set dates for the new rates to go into effect.