6 thoughts on “NB Power to raise rates by 3% and other matters”

  2. The job losses were inevitable no matter if the assets were sold or not. There are 8 Vice Presidents? Good Lord, that is ridiculous by any standard, least of all a small provincial utility? If there are 8 vp’s I’ll bet the fat is ripe for trimming. I would think the government has a mandate to fix the problem.

    As for the rate increase, I am sorry it’s happening. I wish it were different, but we all knew it.

  3. Given that inflation runs at around 2%, wow, a whole 1% increase. Time to start a new facebook group!

  4. “Given that inflation runs at around 2%, wow, a whole 1% increase.”

    In other words, the 5 yr freeze built into the proposed asset sale was a massive rate cut.

  5. Depends on inflation, but yes. However, NBPower at one point DID say they weren’t going to have ANY increase this year, so people are right to point out this MAY be political. NBPower gave a forecast of rate increases, they were all under 5%, I think next year was 4%, but then 2%, same as inflation. That’s less of an increase than the last ten years.

    And absolutely, thats cumulative 15% over five years. THAT was never the problem-even the second deal had more support than the first. However, again, its AFTER the five years that was the problem. Keir didn’t help matters when he said that rate increases of ANYTHING UNDER 9% wouldn’t have to go before the EUB. That’s NINE percent. In other words, in two years you could see greater increases than that ‘massive rate cut’.

    And there was no number for those increases-anything over the heritage pool-all transmission costs-the CPI-a ‘fair return on investment for the new owners’, and maybe there was more than that. People get VERY nervous when a deal has that many variables.

    And again I’ll point out Charles blog of years ago when he quoted an MLA telling him to ‘shut up’ about Quebec because it does a lot of business in NB. Quebec has a lot of clout, so people are right to suspect that the EUB may be politically charged-everything else is.

    So thats that in a nutshell, although again I’ll point out lots of people simply wanted a referendum. Apparantly Quebec has caught on to that idea, and rates in Quebec are going to begin climbing according to a rate schedule in 2014. Industries will be exempt though, but guess what, Quebec is STILL bleeding manufacturers. It HAS made some gains-mostly by getting industry that leaves ontario-not THATS great public policy. The Montreal Gazette even had the complaint from an MP-that by raising rates and using that to pay down provincial debt Quebec loses transfer payments!

  6. ” NBPower at one point DID say they weren’t going to have ANY increase this year”

    Not sure where that comes from; the NB Power 2010 budget discussion transcripts (hearings held in 2009) found at the EUB website clearly show that the 3% increase was built into their budget. NB Power was asked to hold off of the increase for 2010 while the asset sale contract was being negotiated.

    “NBPower gave a forecast of rate increases, they were all under 5%, I think next year was 4%, but then 2%, same as inflation. That’s less of an increase than the last ten years.”

    Except that those forecasts are not meaningful as they do not take the Lepreau debt into consideration.

    ” Keir didn’t help matters when he said that rate increases of ANYTHING UNDER 9% wouldn’t have to go before the EUB. That’s NINE percent.”

    Citation?

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