NB Power’s idea of a proposed levy to recoup extreme storm costs isn’t sitting well with many New Brunswickers.
But energy public intervener Heather Black says it may benefit ratepayers.
Under the utility’s proposal, they would need permission from the Energy and Utilities Board to bring in the temporary levy, which Black says would lead to a hearing and a full discussion on the costs.
“The board would have the opportunity, and all of the participants in the hearing would have the opportunity to scrutinize the costs in the context of the particular storm and to say ‘okay, what costs did you incur, were they prudently incurred, could you have done anything better in order to minimize those costs’ and really examine it,” says Black.
Right now, Black says there’s no real opportunity to have that sort of discussion.
She says New Brunswickers are already paying the costs of these storms, even without this levy.
“Originally, a couple of years ago, you could see that NB Power anticipated two per cent rate increases over the first two or three years of their [10-year] plan and then it would drop off to one per cent,” she says. “In the most recent 10-year plan, you see those two per cent increases continue and continue on for a number of years.”
The EUB will make its decision on the idea in the coming weeks.