NSP customers still paying for Maritime Link but not all at once

Nova Scotia Power customers are being charged $109.5 million this year and $111.5 million in 2019 to cover building costs for the Maritime Link, subsea power line from Newfoundland and Labrador.

The amounts are already being collected from customers as part of a three-year rate stability plan for 2017-2019, the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board stated in a news release Monday.

The board ruled, however, about $105 million in costs should not yet be recovered, including $52.5 million in project depreciation costs and financing expenses in each of 2018 and 2019 because completion of the Muskrat Falls hydro power project in Labrador has been delayed until at least 2020.

Ratepayers, therefore, will receive an annual credit on their power bill over the next three years, the amount vary by customer class.

The first credit to customers will be issued by April 30, 2018. NSPI must provide the utility and review board with a report by Oct. 16, detailing how the credit will be returned to the various customer classes.

Nevertheless, the review board gave interim approval to NSP Maritime Link Inc., a subsidiary of Emera Inc. of Halifax, to charge NSP, also an Emera subsidiary, for the cost of building the subsea line.

In its decision, the review board also concluded that Nova Scotia ratepayers will receive several benefits from the use of the Maritime Link when it becomes operational, even with the Muskrat Falls delay.

The Maritime Link is slated to be commissioned by the end of this year, on time and on budget, according to NSP Maritime Link.

The board also ordered NSP to withhold $10 million in payment to NSP Maritime Link in each of 2018 and 2019 until the expected benefit to customers.

The review board also expressed concern about the delays at the Muskrat Falls project and NSP Maritime Link’s apparent lack of insight on how things are preceding.

The board also indicated it is not prepared to approve a final assessment on the Maritime Link project “until it is confident Nova Scotia ratepayers will get what they bargained for from Muskrat Falls.”

Another interim hearing before the utility and review board is scheduled for early 2019 for a project update.