A tough ask from Nova Scotia Power
Once upon a time, there was the Nova Scotia Power Commission. Then there was the Nova Scotia Light and Power Ltd. The Liberal government of Gerald Regan took over the Nova Scotia Light and Power Ltd. That was away back in 1971.
In 1992, the Progressive Conservative government of Donald Cameron privatized Nova Scotia Power. There were 65 million common shares put on the market at $10 a share. Nova Scotians were offered a special deal whereby they could buy on an instalment plan with 60 per cent down and the rest paid within the year. Despite the good deal for Nova Scotians, 75 per cent of the shares were bought by out-of-province investors.
The above information came from a book written in 2011 by Richard Starr called Power Failure? It gives a view to the history of power in Nova Scotia since 1720. There is information on the coal industry and the oil and gas industry as well. The news is not good. As a matter of fact, it is a rather dreadful litany of governments and greed for over 300 years.
And so, we come to today.
The new version of Nova Scotia Power Inc. (NSP) is owned by Emera Inc. Emera owns six other companies both in Canada and the United States – Tampa Electric (Florida), Peoples Gas (Florida), Emera Caribbean (parent company of Grand Bahama Power Company and Barbados Light & Power, a majority shareholder in Dominica Electricity Services Ltd., and an investor in St. Lucia Electricity Services Ltd. in St. Lucia), Emera Newfoundland & Labrador (owns 100 per cent of NSP Maritime Link Inc.), Emera New Brunswick (transmits natural gas through the Brunswick Pipeline) and New Mexico Gas Co. (maintains 12,000 miles of natural gas pipeline).
The latest hullabaloo is Nova Scotia Power’s application to the Nova Scotia Utilities and Review Board to hike rates and do some other tweaks to some of their rates. So, let’s take a look at what NSP wants.
1. Raise the rates on residential properties.
2. Raise the rates on commercial
properties. 3.
Put a system access charge on those people who put solar panels on their properties to save money and the environment. But if they already have those panels and are feeding back to the grid, there is a moratorium of 25 years.
A storm rider of up to two per cent on the years that have severe storms.
Charge ratepayers for energy saving programs that exceed $40 million per year.
Charge ratepayers $53 million in deferred fuel costs.
Create a decarbonization deferral account.
Maintain its nine per cent rate of return.
And don’t forget NSP wants to have ratepayers pay for the decommissioning of the Tidal Power Plant in Annapolis Royal.
Oh, and by the way, NSP gets all the carbon credits for those 4,100 customers who were able to put solar panels on their property and even sell power back to the grid.
The storm rider business is money for them. With climate change, our storms are more frequent and more severe.
What the heck is a decarbonization deferral account? 4. 5.
6. 7. 8.
All of a sudden, NSP has discovered that burning coal is contributing to the climate crisis. They have known about this connection for at least 40 years. Now that the various governments are getting on board the climate change bandwagon, NSP wants its ratepayers to pay for dragging its feet. And it wants to still make a profit for its parent company Emera, who is busy buying and selling energy companies.
I think NSP is going to get the small hello, as they say. And this was not a very good time to make this ask. The populace is angry. It is angry about the COVID-19 restrictions, it is angry that it can’t go to restaurants, it is angry about the flip-flopping on schools, it is angry, angry, angry. And it’s January and we have just had the third humungous storm. Two of them did damage to our power and people had to make like pioneers for quite a few hours.
And the anger momentum is growing on social media and the emails lists about all this.
They may get a few things, but I don’t think the atmosphere around consumer patience is in a giving mode.
Anne Crossman is a former journalist and media manager. She now does volunteer work in her community of Centrelea, Annapolis County.