The New Brunswick government has ordered NB Power to conduct a third-party audit after concerns over higher than normal power bills.
Premier Susan Holt and Energy Minister Rene Legacy announced the audit to reporters in a late Tuesday afternoon media availability.
Holt said her government has heard from “hundreds” of New Brunswickers across the province over the past few days.
“Those New Brunswickers had questions about their kilowatt hours, about how meters are read, about a whole bunch of different things,” said Holt.
“More and more people were reaching out with really significant spikes in power bills that were unexpected, that didn’t go to trend, and we want to get to the bottom of this.”
The news came less than 24 hours after New Brunswick’s opposition Progressive Conservatives first called for a third-party audit.
Kris Austin, the party’s energy critic, said that they heard concerns from many people about their December NB Power bills.
Austin said members of the party’s caucus met with officials from the utility on Monday to discuss what they have been hearing.
“We shared customer concerns about high consumption amounts that are double or more in some cases, driving bills much higher than expected,” Austin said in a statement.
“Our MLAs will continue to gather information from constituents and are calling for a 3rd party audit of data/meters to provide independent oversight and provide New Brunswickers with the assurance that this aspect of the billing process is operating as it should.”
Meanwhile, an NB Power spokesperson said colder temperatures in December compared to last year seems to be a major contributing factor in the higher bills.
Dominique Couture told the River Valley Sun that it is unrelated to any rate hike and has little to do with higher service charges.
“The only rate change since April 1, 2024, was a reduction in December following the EUB decision,” she said. “Additionally, customers would have noticed a small adjustment to their monthly service charge, an increase or decrease of about $1, and a one-time credit or debit of approximately $11, to comply with the EUB decision.”
Couture added that smart meters do not affect power usage calculations, noting that the new, higher-tech smart meters collect the same information as traditional meters.
“Bills are based on how much energy is consumed, not the meter itself,” she said.
Holt was asked if she believes there may be external forces at play, like a cyberattack.
“Right now we’re going through an independent audit because we don’t want to preemptively rule anything out or rule anything in. We’ve got to get to the bottom of this and do that work,” she said.
“The cyberattack is not top of the list, but we’re going to open every door and look under every rock so that we can figure this out.”
NB Power encourages anyone with ongoing concerns to contact their customer care team at 1-800-663-6272, noting advisors are available to investigate high bills and troubleshoot if there is an issue.
With files from the Local Journalism Initiative/River Valley Sun
