Critics say PC government’s Nova Scotia Power accountability bill lacks teeth
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The group knows what it is talking about. In 2017 the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal ruled the Utility and Review Board did not have the authority to establish a program to help low-income ratepayers unless the provincial government changed Section 67 (1) of the Public Utility Act to allow some ratepayers to be treated differently. The PC’s Bill 147 doesn’t address that important issue, but, as the Affordable Energy Coalition and NDP Dartmouth South MLA Claudia Chender pointed out, there is an easy fix.
Chender proposed an amendment to the PC legislation that would include changing Section 67 (1) of the Public Utility Act to remove the legal barrier to setting up a mechanism to help low-income consumers pay higher power bills. A private member’s bill previously introduced by Chender would accomplish the same thing but has little hope of passing.
The majority of PC MLAs on the Committee voted down Chender’s amendment.
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