Ensure NSP Accountability - QP
CLAUDIA CHENDER « » : I'm going to ask the Premier about some things that he can control. The CEO of Nova Scotia Power told reporters this week that he doesn't see a path that will allow the utility to move off coal by 2030. The Province's legislated sustainability goals require a phaseout of coal by 2030, as well as having 80 per cent of our electricity supplied by renewable energy. Nova Scotia Power produces the vast majority of the province's electricity and is our greatest emitter of greenhouse gases.
Mr. Speaker, how will the Premier ensure that Nova Scotia Power is accountable to meeting our legislated goal to be off coal by 2030?
THE PREMIER « » : Mr. Speaker, I believe we're the province, the region in the country that has the most ambitious legislated environmental targets - very extensive. We're serious about it. We're so serious that we put them into legislation. That's not something that's happened in other jurisdictions. We are serious. We're on a path to meet them. We know it means greening the grid, and we fully expect that Nova Scotia Power will not only help us in that, but will be a willing partner in that process because that's what matters to Nova Scotians.
CLAUDIA CHENDER « » : They have said they're not going to do it. They're not a willing partner, so the question stands - but I'll move on.
Nova Scotia Power's current rate application is looking to set power rates until 2024. That means rates for 2025 will be up for discussion again in just two short years, and Nova Scotians will again face the uncertainty of massively unaffordable energy bills. As we have seen over this past year, when Nova Scotia Power increases their rates, families pay the price, while shareholders and executives see no change to their investment returns and salaries.
What will this government do to ensure that rates won't dramatically spike in two years' time?
THE PREMIER « » : Mr. Speaker, I think we have made it very clear as a government that we are very concerned and very focused on the ratepayers of this province. We're concerned about reliable energy. Nova Scotians have a right to expect reliable energy. We're focused on that. There is a lot of work being done on that around standards and holding Nova Scotia Power to standards. That will come. We are also very focused on affordability. I think the bill that is before this House says that loud and clear. We will not lose sight of ratepayers in this province.
CLAUDIA CHENDER « » : It says it for two years, and even the Consumer Advocate is wary of this kind of intervention. In 1992, the Progressive Conservative government of the day sold our province's public energy utility, creating the private company we know today as Nova Scotia Power. The Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board was granted powers to regulate the company which included setting rates. This was done to remove political interference in the process and place the onus on Nova Scotia Power to justify their rates in an open and transparent way.
Running the health care system, housing, education, business development, and now power regulation off the side of the Premier's desk is not going to work for everyday families.
My question to the Premier is: When will this government stop its interference into independent arms-length organizations and start focusing on helping everyday people?
THE PREMIER « » : I wish you could make this stuff up, but you can't. The first part of the question says can you please interfere for rates two or three years out down the road, and the second part says don't interfere. In this House right now. . . (Interruption)
THE SPEAKER « » : Order, please. The honourable Premier has the floor.
The honourable Premier.
THE PREMIER « » : In this House right now, we have an Opposition party that on the one hand talks about affordability crisis and on the other hand promotes a carbon tax pushdown on Nova Scotians. In this House right now, we have Opposition parties that talk about housing concerns and then get up in arms when we tell HRM you will not slow down housing. They want us to go slow. They want us to go fast. They want us to go in the middle.
I'll tell you what, Mr. Speaker, we will do what is necessary to move this province forward, and we will not be deterred by it.