New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt wants frustrated NB Power customers to curb their anger against Crown corporation employees, as monthly utility bills skyrocket.
“We are hearing stories of people driving a NB Power truck or parking it in their yard and getting harassed, getting yelled at in parking lots, or getting treated poorly because they’re working for NB Power,” said Holt. “I’d like to ask New Brunswickers to please not… I know when you call the call centre you need a place to vent, you want to express your frustrations. But let’s not take it out on the people, our neighbours, who are doing this work.”
Holt said her government is preparing to take a more hands-on approach at NB Power in the weeks to come, following reports from several residents of bills increasing by hundreds of dollars compared to a year ago.
“The utility is in an exceptionally challenged position, with a significant amount of debt that they are not making progress on, with maintenance deficit across the board, with assets that are underperforming and with a plan of rate increases for the foreseeable future that is more than New Brunswickers can bear,” says Holt. “As I’ve said before, the status quo is no longer an option with NB Power.”
Holt said the government was considering multiple options, which included taking on the utility’s $5-billion debt and freezing rates. When asked by a reporter if selling NB Power was an option being pondered, Holt responded “it’s on the table.”
“We’re looking at the policies that oversee NB Power and things like their requirements around debt and debt payment, and the ratios they need to achieve there,” said Holt. “We’re looking at the regulatory environment they’re operating in, we’re looking at partnerships and other things, but as we’re finalizing these decisions and considering what they can do, what might it cost, who will be impacted, that work is being done right now and we’re doing it as quickly as we can because we know New Brunswickers are frustrated.”
An internal audit at NB Power, looking specifically at the use of smart-metres, began in January and was supposed to be finished last month in time to be presented before the province’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts. Results from the audit are now expected in April.
Interim Progressive Conservative leader Glen Savoie says the audit’s delay was frustrating and should prompt the government to be more urgent in managing ratepayer stress.
“Right now it just seems all we’ve been hearing is ‘everything is on the table’ with very little definition about what that means,” said Savoie.
In a statement, NB Power president and CEO Lori Clark said the utility’s status quo was “not an option” and the utility would have to “think and act differently” in the future.
Jamie Gillies, coordinator of communications and public policy at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, said the ongoing U.S. trade would likely reframe the Holt government’s priorities on a number of fronts, including NB Power.
“The rapid increase in power rates and power bills over the winter will likely be an albatross around the government’s neck for the foreseeable future,” said Gillies. “I think it perhaps reflects that you never let a crisis go to waste, in that some outside-the-box thinking needs to occur on some of these longstanding issues within the province.”
The Holt government will present its first provincial budget on Tuesday.
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