Audit ordered after soaring N.B. Power bills anger thousands of customers

Premier Susan Holt told reporters the government has been trying to figure out why many December power bills rose as much as they did. (Isabelle Leger/CBC News - image credit)
Premier Susan Holt told reporters the government has been trying to figure out why many December power bills rose as much as they did. (Isabelle Leger/CBC News - image credit)

N.B. Power will undergo an independent audit after thousands of customer complaints about December power bills, which for many were hundreds of dollars higher than expected.

Findings from the review will be ready for the legislature's public accounts committee on Feb. 18, so MLAs can ask the third-party auditor followup questions at its meeting Feb. 21.

Announcing the audit Tuesday afternoon, Premier Susan Holt said the government had been working for a week to understand why increases of $200 to $500  — or up to 1,500 kilowatt hours — had shown up on power bills.

"We've been listening to New Brunswickers and we share your concerns about expensive power bills," Holt told reporters.

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"We heard from a large volume of New Brunswickers … 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."

WATCH | N.B. Power billing to get independent scrutiny: 

She said her caucus met with N.B. Power representatives on Jan. 20 to get a better understanding of the issue, but "that conversation left us with more questions."

Energy Minister René Legacy said he had meetings with the N.B. Power board over the last 10 days, and the utility has agreed to an independent review.

Energy Minister Rene Legacy said he asked NB Power to have the findings from the independent review available in time for the province's public accounts committee meeting on Feb. 21.
Energy Minister Rene Legacy said he asked NB Power to have the findings from the independent review available in time for the province's public accounts committee meeting on Feb. 21.

Energy Minister René Legacy said he wants the findings about the power bill spike to be ready in time for a legislature committee's meeting on Feb. 21. (Isabelle Leger/CBC News )

"They also share the concern that if there are any significant concerns from New Brunswickers, whether their system is compromised, that is an issue for them too, so they want to get to the bottom of it," Legacy said.

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Holt said the Liberal government isn't ruling anything out now, but this could simply have been a "perfect storm of pain for New Brunswickers."

Earlier in the day, Lori Clark, the president and CEO of the Crown corporation, said system audits suggested a change in consumption by N.B, Power's customers was the cause.

She said December was the first cold month since rates increased by 9.8 per cent last spring. December was also on average three degrees colder than the December before, and the billing cycle for some customers was as long as 33 days, she said.

A one-time debit of $11 was added for some customers last month, to comply with the Energy and Utilities Board's order to keep distinct service charges for rural and urban customers.

When asked if she would consider a freeze on power rates, Holt said her focus is figuring out what happened in this situation first.

"Right now we need to get to the bottom of this issue, because if there's an issue here that we can learn from it's something that we have to address urgently," she said.