NDP calls for study into returning public ownership of power utility
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A day earlier, the NDP caucus introduced legislation to tie Nova Scotia Power’s profits to a series of public-interest targets, including reliability of the grid and customer service.
“People in Nova Scotia have some of the highest electricity bills in the country,” Claudia Chender, the NDP member for Dartmouth South, said Wednesday.
“At the same time, we receive mediocre service from an unreliable grid. Nova Scotia Power shareholders are guaranteed a high profit each year, and now they want to make it higher. We're not even guaranteed that the lights will work.”
Following up with the bill to launch a study to probe the return of a publicly owned power utility, Chender said Thursday that "many people are incredibly frustrated with a private, for-profit monopoly that delivers poor services at high costs."
The NDP caucus says NSP has drained more than $3 billion in profits from the people of Nova Scotia since privatization in 1992 and now wants to add to the drain with its application for a 10 per rate hike over two years.
“There are many questions about what public ownership would look like, how much it would cost, and what should happen to the grid," Chender said. "The NDP’s plan is to require a study to answer these questions and report back to the legislature on options for the ownership of electrical generation and distribution.”
When Chender introduced the bill, comments from the government side of the House alluded to the work of the proposed study already being done.
Nova Scotia Power made $241 million in profits in 2021. The CEO of Emera, NSP’s parent company, made $8.28 million last year, while other executives also pocketed multi-million dollar compensation packages, the NDP said.
These salaries have provoked outrage from people in Nova Scotia for decades, the party said.
“With rising bills, hostility towards the fledgling renewables industries, and unreliable service, the utility isn't working for Nova Scotians,” said Chender, thus far the only announced candidate to contest the party’s June 25 leadership election.
“So we need to know the facts. Once all the facts are on the table, the people and their elected representatives can decide what to do about the future of Nova Scotia Power.”
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