Cost of living focus for N.S. opposition as House session nears

“. . .

The NDP plans to make Nova Scotia Power’s proposed 10 per cent rate hike over two years a major topic of discussion during the sitting, including a party plan to help make power bills more affordable, restrict Nova Scotia Power’s profits, and address the climate emergency.

The first step will be new legislation, to be introduced Thursday, to require the regulator, the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board, to address equity and sustainability when setting power rates.

“People in Nova Scotia have some of the highest electricity bills in the country,” said Claudia Chender, the New Democrat MLA for Dartmouth South and the likely successor to Burrill as party leader.

“It means that more families worry about being able to just afford to have heat in their homes when temperatures dip or go without essentials to pay their power bill,” Chender said. 

“At the same time, we receive mediocre service from an unreliable grid.”

Chender said the rate hike application is “outrageous” in that context and unaffordable. 

Chender said NSP, a for-profit monopoly that charges some of the highest rates in the country, has made more than $3 billion since being privatized by the Progressive Conservative government in 1992. CEO (Scott Balfour) of its parent company, Emera, made $8.28 million in compensation last year.

“Meanwhile, my office and MLA offices across the province see people weekly who are unable to afford power at all, who are deep in arrears or who are cut off entirely,” Chender said. “To make matters worse, NSP shareholders are guaranteed a rate of return … and now they are asking to make that rate of return higher.

. . .”

Read full story.