water rate

In just a few months, there could be a water rate hike for industrial users of the Landrie Lake Water Utility in Richmond County and according to the Director of Finance for Port Hawkesbury, customers are understanding.

A public hearing was held last week to discuss the application submitted to the Nova Scotia Regulatory and Appeals Board.

In an interview with our newsroom, Brian Luciano says the meeting was positive and the business owners who would be affected have likely anticipated something like this.

“A lot of those industrial users have seen their own costs increase over the last number of years,” says Luciano. “So, this just falls in line with that. We’ve seen power rates go up, inputs go up, labor rates go up.”

Why the increase?

The Landrie Lake Water Utility is owned by both Richmond County and the Town of Port Hawkesbury.

It provides water to businesses in Richmond County such as EverWind Terminals, Nova Scotia Power and Port Hawkesbury Paper.

If this application is approved, it will be the first hike since 2022 after a rate study in 2020, and according to Luciano there are two main reasons they applied.

Inflation and a new customer – EverWind Fuels.

EverWind is developing a green ammonia plant in Point Tupper who will export its product to Germany and other global markets. They have asked to draw up to 10 million litres of water a day but would be using their own equipment.

Luciano says, according to their research, there is not another application in Canada, similar to this one.

“You have an industrial user investing in their own infrastructure to access the water and doing a shared cost application through part of the utility’s assets,” explains Luciano.

If approved, how much of a hike?

There are a number of things the utility has to look into that would inform how much the rate increase would be and that can take up to 90 days.

What they have submitted for is a hike of 10.6 to 10.9 per cent. But Luciano says because it will come in three-year blocks, the final number could be completely different.

“In year two, it would be anywhere from 11.1 per cent to 19.1 per cent. In year three, anywhere from 5.2 per cent to 7.1,” explains Luciano.

Unclear about an increase for the Port Hawkesbury Utility

The Landrie Lake Utility also sells raw water to the Port Hawkesbury Water Utility, which treats it and distributes it to residents as well as businesses in Port Hawkesbury and Port Hastings.

Luciano says the Landrie Lake rate hike will not directly affect those customers, but it could happen in time if the Port Hawkesbury utility asks for one.

“The water utility for the Town of Port Hawkesbury would have to make an additional application to the regulatory and review board,” says Luciano.

Luciano says they have not heard any concerns yet but if an application is submitted, there will be a public hearing.

“The public will certainly have an opportunity to comment on it,” says Luciano.

Next steps

Luciano says they had intended to apply for a Landrie Lake increase prior to this because, “we are due” and even if EverWind was not a factor, they would have still submitted.

Now that the Landrie Lake Utility has had the public hearing with the Board, they have to review the study and formula used to calculate EverWind’s charge to make sure it’s fair.

Editor’s Note: Our original story incorrectly identified a water rate hike had been approved. We apologize for our error and any confusion our story may have caused. This has been corrected.