YO Higgy One month later and still CBC does not consider the Court of Appeal File No. 68-23-CA - Judicial Review of Board Decision in Matter 541 newsworthy EH?
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
Glenn Zacher<GZacher@stikeman.com> | Thu, Aug 3, 2023 at 10:01 PM | ||||||||
| To: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.com> | |||||||||
I am in out of the office until Aug 14, 2023 and may be delayed in responding. If your matter is urgent, please contact my assistant Sofia at scasinha@stikeman.com or 416 869 6703. Thank you
| |||||||||
David Amos<david.raymond.amos333@gmail.com> | Thu, Aug 3, 2023 at 9:59 PM |
| To: "blaine.higgs" <blaine.higgs@gnb.ca>, "hugh.flemming" <hugh.flemming@gnb.ca>, "Robert. Jones" <Robert.Jones@cbc.ca>, "Ross.Wetmore" <Ross.Wetmore@gnb.ca>, "andrea.anderson-mason" <andrea.anderson-mason@gnb.ca>, "jeff.carr" <jeff.carr@gnb.ca>, "John.Williamson" <John.Williamson@parl.gc.ca>, "rob.moore" <rob.moore@parl.gc.ca>, "Jack.Keir" <Jack.Keir@gnb.ca>, "jacques.j.leblanc" <jacques.j.leblanc@gnb.ca>, "jake.stewart" <jake.stewart@parl.gc.ca>, "Mitton, Megan (LEG)" <megan.mitton@gnb.ca>, "Arseneau, Kevin (LEG)" <kevin.a.arseneau@gnb.ca>, "robert.gauvin" <robert.gauvin@gnb.ca>, "robert.mckee" <robert.mckee@gnb.ca>, andre <andre@jafaust.com>, John Furey <JohnFurey@fureylegal.com>, "Holland, Mike (LEG)" <mike.holland@gnb.ca>, "kris.austin" <kris.austin@gnb.ca>, "Mike.Comeau" <Mike.Comeau@gnb.ca>, "martin.gaudet" <martin.gaudet@fredericton.ca>, "Mark.Blakely" <Mark.Blakely@rcmp-grc.gc.ca>, crystal.critch@gnb.ca, "Mitchell, Kathleen" <Kathleen.Mitchell@nbeub.ca>, "Aherrington@lawsoncreamer.com" <Aherrington@lawsoncreamer.com>, Melissa Curran <Melissa.Curran@nbeub.ca>, "Young, Dave" <Dave.Young@nbeub.ca>, "Michael.Dickie@nbeub.ca" <Michael.Dickie@nbeub.ca>, Veronique Otis <Veronique.Otis@nbeub.ca>, "Colwell, Susan" <Susan.Colwell@nbeub.ca>, "Chiasson, Alain (OAG/CPG)" <Alain.Chiasson2@gnb.ca>, "Hoyt, Len" <len.hoyt@mcinnescooper.com>, "Glenn Zacher (gzacher@stikeman.com)" <GZacher@stikeman.com>, "rburgoyne@coxandpalmer.com" <rburgoyne@coxandpalmer.com>, "louis-philippe.gauthier@cfib.ca" <louis-philippe.gauthier@cfib.ca>, "frederic.gionet@cfib.ca" <frederic.gionet@cfib.ca>, "daly@nbnet.nb.ca" <daly@nbnet.nb.ca>, "david.sollows@gnb.ca" <david.sollows@gnb.ca>, "Brandy.Gellner@libertyutilities.com" <Brandy.Gellner@libertyutilities.com>, "Gilles.volpe@libertyutilities.com" <Gilles.volpe@libertyutilities.com>, "dave.lavigne@libertyutilities.com" <dave.lavigne@libertyutilities.com>, "Waycott, Stephen" <SWaycott@nbpower.com>, "Gordon, Laura" <LGordon@nbpower.com> | |
| Cc: motomaniac333 <motomaniac333@gmail.com>, nouvelle@acadienouvelle.com, Frederic Cammarano <frederic.cammarano@radio-canada.ca>, Newsroom <Newsroom@globeandmail.com> | |
Saturday, 29 July 2023 N.B. Power lost $43M last year, saw total debt increase to $5.4B | |
N.B. Power lost $43M last year, saw total debt increase to $5.4B
Customers face rate surcharges if additional off-the-books losses aren’t erased by fall
Financial statements filed at the legislature show a loss of $43 million in fiscal 2022-23, mostly due to problems at the utility's Bayside natural gas plant and its Point Lepreau nuclear generating station.
CEO Lori Clark cited outages at the two plants, higher prices and other factors.
"NB Power operates in a complex business environment and we experienced many challenges in 2022/23 that were outside of our control, including higher fuel prices due to the global energy crisis and inflation," Clark said in a statement.
N.B.
Power CEO Lori Clark said there were a number of things 'that were
outside of our control, including higher fuel prices,' soaring
inflation, and outages at Bayside and Lepreau. (Ed Hunter/CBC)
The figure of $43 million doesn't include another $234 million in losses that the Crown corporation is allowed to shift off its balance sheet and into a separate deferral account — essentially a different accounting envelope.
It can then recoup the money from customers with surcharges.
That calculation will be made in October, meaning an influx in revenue in the next three months could erase or reduce the losses in the deferral account and avoid or mitigate the need for surcharges.
Customers would see those extra amounts on their bills next April.
Either way, the 2022-23 statements show that losses that have driven N.B. Power's debt back up to 94 per cent of its equity, the same as it was in 2020.
The progress it was making — the figure was down to 87 per cent in 2022 — has been wiped out. The debt now stands at $5.4 billion.
The Bayside natural gas generating station is part of N.B. Power's Courtney Bay generating complex in Saint John. (Robert Jones/CBC)
N.B. Power saw its costs soar last year after its Bayside gas plant in Saint John required a new turbine and generator at a cost of around $46 million — the same price the utility paid to buy the facility in 2019.
The utility's nuclear generation station at Point Lepreau also had a bad year, forcing N.B. Power to buy replacement power from Quebec.
The extra electricity purchases cost $269 million and were offset by $34 million of extra revenue from higher-than-expected electricity sales, leaving a total of almost $234 million in losses in the deferral account.
The surcharges to customers are subject to approval by the Energy Utilities Board and can't add more than three per cent to any regular rate increase.
The losses make it more difficult for N.B. Power to reach the target set by the Higgs government of getting its debt to 80 per cent of equity by 2027.
The utility pointed to that objective in a recently filed court application attempting to overturn a March rate ruling by the EUB.
8.9% hike requested
N.B. Power asked the EUB for an 8.9 per cent rate hike to take effect April 1, but the board ruled that updated figures from the utility warranted only a 5.7 per cent increase.
A surplus in the deferral account last October required the corporation to rebate customers, which shaved another percentage point off its rate increase, reducing it to 4.8.
But the utility says the EUB failed to use a broader set of new numbers in its decision and also failed to take into account that 2027 debt-to-equity ratio goal.
It's asking the New Brunswick Court of Appeal to award it the 8.9 per cent increase it asked for.
Clark's statement said the corporation's leadership is "committed to making the necessary changes to improve N.B. Power's financial situation and are expecting stronger results in the new 2023/24 fiscal year."
She said the new strategic plan includes "transforming our overall operations and seeking new partnerships to positively impact the bottom line."
Point
Lepreau also had a bad year, forcing N.B. Power to buy replacement
power from Quebec for $269 million, although that was offset by $34
million of extra revenue from higher-than-expected electricity sales,
leaving a total of almost $234 million in losses in the deferral
account. (Shane Fowler/CBC)
Among those partnerships is a possible deal with Ontario Power Generation to have that utility take an ownership stake in Point Lepreau.
But even that, and a court victory awarding N.B. Power a higher rate increase, wouldn't mark the end of the utility's financial challenges.
It recently filed its environmental impact assessment application for an upgrade of the Mactaquac hydroelectric power dam that could cost $2.7 billion to $3.7 billion and must be undertaken soon.
N.B. Power also has yet to settle on how — or whether — to convert its Belledune coal generating station to another energy source — another costly project — ahead of a federal phase-out of coal power in 2030.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
"It's asking the New Brunswick Court of Appeal to award it the 8.9 per cent increase it asked for"
New N.B. Power plan shows 'considerable uncertainty' on net-zero emissions
‘No silver bullet’ to hit federal target in 2035, utility says in new electricity projection
A mix of wind power, a costly upgrade to the Mactaquac dam, an extension to the life of its Bayside gas-fired plant and small modular reactors are all essential, the utility says in its latest three-year outlook.
"The general takeaway is that there is no silver bullet," says the 2023 Integrated Resource Plan, filed with the Energy and Utilities Board last week.
N.B. Power updates the document every three years with a rolling projection of where and how it can generate electricity to meet demand at as low a cost as possible.
That forecast has become increasingly complicated, given the utility's huge debt, increasingly stringent federal emissions-reduction requirements and the looming need to shut down or extend several major power plants.
The
Bayside natural gas generating station is part of N.B. Power's Courtney
Bay generating complex in Saint John. An extension to the life of this
plant may be needed. (Robert Jones/CBC)
The document acknowledges that there are still big questions on how N.B. Power can comply with national objectives to combat climate change.
It says the utility "continues to explore options" for the Belledune generating station, which must stop burning coal by 2030.
Another section says there remains "considerable uncertainty on achieving a net-zero electricity system in New Brunswick."
Still, the plan shows which way N.B. Power is leaning: toward small modular nuclear reactors and away from a costly linking of five provincial power grids known as the Atlantic Loop.
Without small modular reactors, the resource plan says, the utility will have to rely on "variable" renewable power generation, like wind and solar, that depend on weather conditions.
That would would mean "completely altering the dynamics of daily operations, creating significant risk."
N.B.
Power's latest resource plan says the Mactaquac hydro dam — in need of a
$3-billion refurbishment — remains 'a key pillar in the transition to a
net-zero electricity system.' (Shane Fowler/CBC News )
It also says the cost of developing small modular nuclear reactors are a "significant unknown," and the timing of their deployment will depend on the pace of technology development.
"Until more certainty on all of these issues is obtained, a full cost-benefit analysis cannot be completed and therefore is not in this analysis," the plan says.
Assessment ordered by province
ARC Clean Energy told a committee of MLAs earlier this year that it should have a 100-megawatt reactor ready by 2030, but that wouldn't be enough to replace what Belledune generates with coal.
The province announced Thursday it was ordering an environmental impact assessment of ARC's proposal.
Moltex Energy, the other company working on a model in New Brunswick, plans 300-megawatt reactors but says they won't be ready for 2030.
The report touts the potential job and economic impact of the two companies' SMR models, including a projected $1 billion in additional gross domestic product.
The
Atlantic Loop would expand the electrical grid connections between
Quebec and New Brunswick and New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to provide
greater access to renewable electricity, like hydro from Quebec. (CBC)
The plan has no such promotion of the economic upside of the Atlantic Loop, which would connect the grids in the four Atlantic provinces and Quebec to allow for more sharing of hydroelectric power from Quebec and Labrador.
Instead, it pegs the cost of constructing new transmission links and buying extra hydro power from Quebec at $270-$310 million in the 2040s, seven to nine per cent higher than the cost of other scenarios that don't include the loop.
The scramble for non-emitting electricity generation is driven by the federal government's climate targets, which include net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and net-zero electricity generation even sooner — by 2035.
The federal government has said that N.B. Power's Belledune generating station will not be allowed to burn coal past 2030. (N.B. Power)
The new resource plan says N.B. Power will have eliminated 98 per cent of its emissions from electricity by then, with the remaining two per cent — about 175,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas, the equivalent of 3,500 cars — needed to ensure the grid is reliable.
Plants like Bayside and Coleson Cove might have to remain in service to provide that backup power past 2035.
"The small volume of outstanding emissions can be more appropriately addressed in subsequent IRPs as the future landscape and policies become more certain," the plan says.
The utility has asked for proposals for new wind, solar, tidal and battery storage programs and has been promoting energy efficiency.
But those efforts won't get far without a major shift in its large-scale generating capacity away from fossil fuels.
That's why the Mactaquac hydro dam — in need of a $3-billion refurbishment to extend its life to 2068 — remains "a key pillar in the transition to a net-zero electricity system," the report says.
The fossil fuel powered generating station at Coleson Cove might have to remain in service to provide backup power past 2035. (Roger Cosman/CBC)
"Mactaquac plays a valuable role of enabling the low-cost integration of renewables which becomes increasingly important in the future."
Without the dam to fill the gap on days with no sun or no wind, "the costs quickly balloon," the report says.
The Atlantic Loop is projected to cost $6 billion.
Ottawa announced new policies earlier this year, including loans and tax credits, that could make the project more affordable for provinces and their power utilities.
But N.B. Power's plan says the overall price tag remains "a significant hurdle" because the electricity imported from Quebec would not always be available, forcing the utility to maintain costly generation capacity in New Brunswick.
"There would need to be a larger savings on the side of generation and purchased power costs to make the project viable, but we see the opposite happening," the report says.
Debt reduction ordered
Cost is a major issue for the utility, whose latest financial statements show its cumulative debt climbing back up to $5.4 billion, or 94 per cent of its equity.
The Higgs government has ordered it to reduce its debt to 80 per cent of equity by 2027 — a tall order with several costly projects on the horizon.
According to the resource plan, a survey of New Brunswickers showed that customers consider low power rates a higher priority than clean energy or debt management.
In a recent Narrative Research poll, 79 per cent of New Brunswick respondents said they were concerned about climate change, and 70 per cent agreed that the increasing frequency and intensity of heat waves and forest fires are linked to climate change.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
https://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2023/02/new-brunswicks-energy-puzzle-comes-into.html
Friday, 24 February 2023
New Brunswick's energy puzzle comes into focus at climate committee meetings
New Brunswick's energy puzzle comes into focus at climate committee meetings
Hearings on small nuclear reactors highlight N.B. Power’s electricity challenge in coming decades
It became clear small modular nuclear reactors aren't, on their own, the magic bullet that will replace coal in the next seven years, or achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
But utility officials made it equally clear it'll be much harder to get there without them.
"The one thing I can tell you based on what we know today is there's no one solution. We need to throw everything we've got at a net-zero future," said Brad Coady, N.B. Power's executive director of business development and strategic planning.
Coady underscored the key role of emissions-free nuclear power when he told MLAs that if the Point Lepreau generating station near Saint John hadn't started operating in 1983, there would now probably be three coal-fired power plants in Belledune, in northern New Brunswick, not just one.
"Our whole carbon picture in New Brunswick would be completely different," he said.
N.B.
Power's Brad Coady said giving up the Mactaquac Dam's clean, renewable,
emissions-free electricity is virtually unthinkable in light of the
net-zero target. (John Collicott/CBC News)
Coady acknowledged cost overruns and performance issues at Point Lepreau but said without the plant, three coal plants in Belledune might be generating 2,000 megawatts of greenhouse-gas emitting power, not just the current 450.
"That would have been an absolute nightmare to solve today if we hadn't had nuclear in our mix."
Renewable power not enough, MLA told
The two days of meetings of the legislature's climate change and environmental stewardship committee were held so supporters and opponents of small reactors could make their case.
But at times the sessions turned into a Jenga-like head-scratcher illustrating the complex challenge — and the high-risk decisions — facing the province.
MLAs were told renewable power, like wind and solar, won't be enough to hit key deadlines.
Belledune is New Brunswick's last coal-fired power plant and must shut down, or convert to another fuel source, in time for a federal coal phaseout in 2030.
There's also a net-zero carbon goal looming in 2050.
N.B. Power and the province are grappling with whether to extend the
life of the utility's largest hydroelectric dam at Mactaquac, west of
Fredericton on the St. John River. (James West/The Canadian Press)
At the same time, N.B. Power and the province are grappling with whether to extend the life of the utility's largest hydroelectric dam at Mactaquac, west of Fredericton on the St. John River.
And it's all happening amid record growth in the province — growth that will likely drive greater demand for electricity.
The utility says the all-time record for peak demand, set the morning of Feb. 4 of this year in the midst of a harsh winter cold snap, won't be the last.
"It's a trend. We're going to set peak demand records on a regular basis as we go forward," said Andy Hayward, the utility's chief nuclear engineer.
"We're going to attract more population to the province. We're going to attract industry to the province. The demand's going to go up."
Bill Labbe of ARC Clean Energy says its first small modular reactor will be ready by 2030. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
Quebec wasn't able to export surplus power from its grid to New Brunswick on Feb. 4, Hayward said, and there was actually too much wind for turbines to generate power.
"One of the reasons we look to nuclear is it's available 24/7," Hayward said.
He and Coady cited a 2021 paper by University of New Brunswick economist and research chair Herb Emery, which said without Lepreau the province might still be emitting greenhouse gases at much higher 2005 levels.
What, then, are the pieces of the puzzle N.B. Power has to work with?
If nuclear power is a valid option, the question becomes whether the two companies developing small reactors in Saint John can pull it off and by what date.
Rory O'Sullivan, CEO of Moltex Energy, says his company's proposed SMR won't be ready for 2030. (Ed Hunter/CBC)
ARC Clean Energy says its first SMR will be ready to operate at Point Lepreau by 2030. But its 100 megawatts would not be enough to replace Belledune's 450 megawatts from coal.
There would still be "a significant shortfall in megawatts," ARC CEO Bill Labbe said.
Moltex Energy Canada's proposed SMR, also to be located at Lepreau, would generate 300 megawatts, coming closer to filling the gap.
But company CEO Rory O'Sullivan said it won't be ready for 2030.
Moltex's technology will use waste from the existing Point Lepreau generating station to power its reactor. O'Sullivan said the company will build its waste facility by 2030 "or just after," and the reactor itself after that.
So SMRs won't be enough to make up for Belledune in time for 2030 — even assuming Mactaquac remains in place.
Small
modular nuclear reactors operating at Point Lepreau may not be, on
their own, the magic bullet that will replace coal in the next seven
years. (Submitted by NB Power)
N.B. Power's been talking about the dam refurbishment for a decade but no final decision has been made on the project, which carries an estimated cost of around $3 billion or more.
As pricey as that is, Coady told MLAs that giving up the dam's clean, renewable, emissions-free electricity is virtually unthinkable in light of the net-zero target.
"It almost becomes a no-brainer," he said.
"You almost need to have it. There's alternatives if you don't [but] the costs of those alternatives are going to make Mactaquac look like it's very cheap, good value for money. We're going to have to get there."
The dam also makes it easier for the utility to add other renewable sources to its grid, he said, because a dam can run all-out when demand is high, then gear down and store water during less busy times when wind can take over.
Importing power another option
N.B. Power recently issued a new request for proposals for an additional 220 megawatts of renewable power, the majority of it from wind, and 50 megawatts of battery storage capacity that would give it more flexibility when demand fluctuates.
It's also shopping for a supply what's called torrified biomass in the coming year and will test it in March 2024 to see if it burns well at Belledune.
Coady said the biomass product resembles charcoal briquettes and "kind of mimics the actions of coal."
It could burn enough to replace Belledune's full 450-megawatt update and would be considered carbon neutral because it would come from sustainably harvested forests, the utility said.
Importing power is another piece of the puzzle, especially if the proposed Atlantic Loop — a regional connection of provincial power grids — is built, allowing N.B. Power to buy more hydroelectricity from Quebec and Labrador.
N.B. Power will issue its latest integrated resource plan this fall, a document published every three years that projects where and how it will generate electricity into the future.
Coady pointed out that when the last one was published in 2020, Ottawa hadn't approved the province's carbon pricing system for large industry.
And at the time the one before that was released, there was no federal requirement to phase out coal — so the plan will always have to adapt to new realities and alternative scenarios, he told the committee.
"There will be a Plan B, C and D for net zero for New Brunswick, under all scenarios with and without nuclear, and with and without Mactaquac, I might add."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
1. Like it or not, the rate increase NB Power is looking for will be the norm (if not even higher) for well into the future
2. With Belledune coal phased out by 2030 (just 7 years away), we could well be looking at electricity shortages at times right here in NB
3. Demand for electricity will definitely be going up
4. NB Power will have to refurbish/rebuild Mactaquac
5. The path to net zero by 2050 is about as clear as the mud (thanks Justin and Stevie Greenpeace)
6. Carbon taxes have done nothing, and will continue to do nothing, to drive the transition to lower carbon emissions (all they contribute to is a higher inflation rate).
from big polluters which provincial governments are protecting. But what The Activist Steve is doing wrong is not having affordable alternatives available.
https://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2023/07/clean-fuel-charges-in-new-brunswick.html
Thursday, 6 July 2023
Clean fuel charges in New Brunswick will be double those in N.S., N.L.
Automatic reply: YO Teddy Why doesn't Mr Jones consider Court of Appeal File No. 68-23-CA - Judicial Review of Board Decision in Matter 541 newsworthy?
Carr, Jeff (LEG)<Jeff.Carr@gnb.ca> | Thu, Jul 6, 2023 at 11:30 AM | ||||||||
| To: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.com> | |||||||||
Thank you for your email. Your thoughts, comments and input are greatly valued. You can be assured that all emails are carefully
read, reviewed and taken into consideration.
If your concern is constituency related, please contact Rose Ann at my constituency office in Fredericton Junction at RoseAnn.Smith@gnb.ca or call 506-368-2938. Thanks again for your email. ============================== Merci pour votre courriel. Vos pensées et commentaires sont grandement appréciés. Vous pouvez être assuré que tous les courriels sont lus, examinés et pris en considération. Si vous souhaitez signaler un état de la route, veuillez composer le 1-833-384-4111 ou envoyer un courriel à transportnb@gnb.ca. Si votre préoccupation concerne la circonscription, veuillez communiquer avec Rose Ann à mon bureau de circonscription à Fredericton Junction à RoseAnn.Smith@gnb.ca ou composer le 506-368-2938. Merci encore pour votre courriel.
| |||||||||
Gilles Volpé<Gilles.Volpe@libertyutilities.com> | Fri, Jul 7, 2023 at 2:23 AM |
| To: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.com> | |
Hi: Thx for your message. I am currently out of the office on vacation returning on Tuesday July 11. I will be checking messages periodically.
Thx, Gilles
Bonjour: Je suis en dehors du bureau jusqu'au mardi 11 juillet. Je vais vérifier mes messages périodiquement.
This message and any attachments contain confidential information and
are solely for the intended recipient. If you are not the intended
recipient, any dissemination, review, disclosure, forwarding,
distribution, copying or reliance on the contents of this message is
strictly prohibited. Please notify the sender immediately by email if
you have received this message in error and delete this message
immediately from your system. | |
Clean fuel charges in New Brunswick will be double those in N.S., N.L.
On Friday, 8 cents will be added to prices in N.B., but only 4 cents elsewhere
Newfoundland and Labrador imposed the exact same charges in that province early Thursday morning.
The amounts are half of what is expected to be an eight-cent charge in New Brunswick.
Parties connected to the petroleum industry in Nova Scotia pushed for the province to follow New Brunswick's eight-cent plan, but the board found fault with that approach, according to David Roberts.
"Nobody thought that the cost was really going to reach that amount," said Roberts, who is Nova Scotia's consumer advocate.
David
Roberts acts as consumer advocate at Nova Scotia's Utilities and Review
Board. He argued against allowing oil companies to charge an extra
eight cents to pay for federal clean-fuel standards, like in New
Brunswick. The body settled on half that amount. (CBC)
He argued an eight-cent increase is well beyond expenses oil companies are likely to face and would punish drivers needlessly.
"There's not going to be any rebates going back to consumers if, as it turns out, they were paying four or five cents a litre more than the clean fuel regulations would have required to compensate suppliers," he said in an interview.
Campaign launched over cost
The New Brunswick government has been waging a major social media and advertising campaign to convince residents the upcoming eight-cent increase on gasoline and diesel is required.
It claims the full amount is necessary to help oil companies pay for the high cost of federal clean fuel regulations that otherwise they would claw from the vulnerable retailers they supply.
"New Brunswick has made amendments to how regulators set maximum prices because if this change was not made, small retailers in the province would have to absorb the additional cost of the federal government's clean fuel regulation," the province wrote in materials distributed last week that included rare, full front-page newspaper advertisements.
"Prices may go up by as much as eight cents per litre as a result of the clean fuel regulations."
But Nova Scotia has decided four cents should be adequate, a ruling that will save consumers in that province about $1 million a week in clean fuel charges over what New Brunswick consumers will pay.
Clean fuel regulations took effect in Canada on July 1, but costs associated with them are to be included in formulas that set regulated prices in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick for the first time this Friday.
The national regulations are meant to cut the "carbon intensity" of automotive fuels sold across the country.
The
New Brunswick government took out a full two-page ad in the
Telegraph-Journal last week to criticize federal carbon policies. The
ads blame Ottawa entirely for the eight-cent fuel-price increase. (Robert Jones/CBC)
They are aimed at making refiners and importers of fuel lower the emission intensity of products they manufacture or resell by setting targets for those emissions and establishing financial rewards and penalties to reach them.
The regulations do not apply to heating fuels or to petroleum products exported from Canada.
Companies can earn credits by changing practices
Refiners can comply with the new rules in different ways, including putting more ethanol in domestic gasoline, selling biodiesel products or finding ways to reduce their own refining emissions.
Companies that come in below the federal government's emissions intensity ceiling will earn credits they can sell on a market being set up for that purpose. Other producers can buy those credits if their fuels fall short.
It's also possible to earn credits through investments in things unrelated to refining, like electric-vehicle charging stations.
Oil companies have complained that making those changes will be costly and, in response, the New Brunswick and Nova Scotia governments each passed new rules to allow those costs to be passed to consumers.
The New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board and Nova Scotia's Utilities and Review Board each held its own hearing to determine what those costs might be, but ultimately reached different conclusions.
Both regulators hired Angie Brown, with the consulting company Grant Thornton, to report on what would be fair.
She built a model around existing clean fuel rules and credit-trading markets operating in California and estimated, based on the California experience, it would take roughly eight cents per litre added to gasoline and diesel retail prices in both provinces to compensate refiners and importers.
Brown was questioned about the relevance of using California data to estimate costs of the new Canadian policy, but she said there were few examples to go by.
"I acknowledge this is an imperfect solution and relying on actual data would likely get you a better outcome," said Brown during her Nova Scotia testimony.
However, she argued if oil companies were under-compensated for new costs, they could decide to stop supplying local markets.
"I think there are some pretty significant risks if you do take the wait-and-see approach," she said.
Too early to fix costs, consultant says
Brown's modelling and recommendations went largely uncontested in New Brunswick, but not in Nova Scotia.
The Nova Scotia board hired a second expert who argued that because no one knows yet how expensive the new clean fuel rules will be, it is too early to charge consumers for them.
Vijay Muralidharan, with Calgary's R Cube Economic Consulting Inc., agreed the new regulations will add costs to oil companies, but said regulators should wait at least a couple of months to get some data on how companies actually respond to the rules.
"Any cost projection at this point would be an estimation with a relatively high degree of potential error, said Muralidharan in his evidence.
The
Shell refinery, upgrader and petrochemical facility northeast of
Edmonton has installed solar panels and signed wind energy contracts to
cut down on the greenhouse gases it emits during manufacturing. It's the
kind of change new federal clean-fuel standards are seeking to force on
the petroleum industry. (Kyle Bakx/CBC)
"Therefore, we recommend that the Board wait and conduct a study with the primary suppliers of fuel, once the new Clean Fuel Standard has been initiated, to understand the realized impact on their business before amending the current regulatory framework."
Reasons for the decision have not yet been issued, but its ruling to add four cents of clean fuel costs falls halfway between Grant Thornton's eight-cent recommendation and R Cube's advice of no immediate increase.
Roberts said R Cube's involvement in the Nova Scotia hearing likely had an important influence on the outcome, that was missing in New Brunswick.
"The difference is that there were no alternate scenarios put to the New Brunswick board other than the one that was included in the Grant Thornton report," said Roberts.
"The New Brunswick board accepted the [Grant Thornton] recommendation. The Nova Scotia board did not."
Newfoundland and Labrador regulators have not held a hearing on clean fuel costs yet but were instructed by the province to implement an interim charge and earlier Thursday selected Nova Scotia's amounts as its own.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
"The New Brunswick government has been waging a major social media and advertising campaign to convince residents the upcoming eight-cent increase on gasoline and diesel is required."
- does it really amount to 8 cents/litre? I highly doubt it.
-why did the NB EUB approve this increase? No doubt because that was what Higgs wanted from them, and he pretty much controls it.
-why does any increase become effective before suppliers are even providing us with the cleaner fuel that we're supposed to be paying for? The provincial government argument doesn't convince me.
Seems like there's some skunks that need to get flushed out of the woodpile.
Sadly we all realize this 8 cents is just pathetic. It should be 100 cents. We all have to pull together, as Canadians, and do our fair part in reducing the global C2O pollutions that increase our climate temperatures. It's collective effort Canadians - all will have to chip in much more to stop the carbones.
YO Teddy Why doesn't Mr Jones consider Court of Appeal File No. 68-23-CA - Judicial Review of Board Decision in Matter 541 newsworthy?
Moore, Rob - M.P.<Rob.Moore@parl.gc.ca> | Thu, Jul 6, 2023 at 11:30 AM |
| To: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.com> | |
*This is an automated response*
Thank you for contacting the Honourable Rob Moore, P.C., M.P. office. We appreciate the time you took to get in touch with our office.
If you did not already, please ensure to include your full contact details on your email and the appropriate staff will be able to action your request. We strive to ensure all constituent correspondence is responded to in a timely manner.
If your question or concern is time sensitive, please call our office: 506-832-4200.
Again, we thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and concerns.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Office of the Honourable Rob Moore, P.C., M.P. Member of Parliament for Fundy Royal | |
Newsroom<newsroom@globeandmail.com> | Thu, Jul 6, 2023 at 11:31 AM |
| To: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.com> | |
Thank you for contacting The Globe and Mail. If your matter pertains to newspaper delivery or you require technical support, please contact our Customer Service department
at 1-800-387-5400 or send an email to customerservice@globeandmail. If you are reporting a factual error please forward your email to publiceditor@globeandmail.com Letters to the Editor can be sent to letters@globeandmail.com This is the correct email address for requests for news coverage and press releases. | |
David Amos<david.raymond.amos333@gmail.com> | Thu, Jul 6, 2023 at 11:30 AM | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| To: "hugh.flemming" <hugh.flemming@gnb.ca>, "Robert. Jones" <Robert.Jones@cbc.ca>, "Ross.Wetmore" <Ross.Wetmore@gnb.ca>, "andrea.anderson-mason" <andrea.anderson-mason@gnb.ca>, "jeff.carr" <jeff.carr@gnb.ca>, "John.Williamson" <John.Williamson@parl.gc.ca>, "rob.moore" <rob.moore@parl.gc.ca>, "Jack.Keir" <Jack.Keir@gnb.ca>, "jacques.j.leblanc" <jacques.j.leblanc@gnb.ca>, "jake.stewart" <jake.stewart@parl.gc.ca>, "Mitton, Megan (LEG)" <megan.mitton@gnb.ca>, "Arseneau, Kevin (LEG)" <kevin.a.arseneau@gnb.ca>, "robert.gauvin" <robert.gauvin@gnb.ca>, "robert.mckee" <robert.mckee@gnb.ca>, andre <andre@jafaust.com> | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cc: motomaniac333 <motomaniac333@gmail.com>, nouvelle@acadienouvelle.com, Frederic Cammarano <frederic.cammarano@radio-canada.ca>, Newsroom <Newsroom@globeandmail.com> | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
David Amos Content Deactivated Why doesn't Mr Jones consider the NB Power lawsuit against the EUB newsworthy? Court of Appeal File No. 68-23-CA - Judicial Review of Board Decision in Matter 541
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Court of Appeal File No.: 68-23-CA IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF NEW BRUNSWICK UNDER SECTION 52(1) OF THE ENERGY AND UTILITIES BOARD ACT, SNB 2006, c. E-9.18, AND RULE 69 OF THE RULES OF COURT, NB REG 82-73 BETWEEN: NEW BRUNSWICK POWER CORPORATION, APPLICANT, - and – NEW BRUNSWICK ENERGY AND UTILITIES BOARD, RESPONDENT. TO: NEW BRUNSWICK COURT OF APPEAL AND TO: New Brunswick Power Corporation, Applicant ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF RECEIPT I hereby acknowledge that on the day of July, 2023, I received the following documents: a) Notice of Application dated July 4, 2023, issued by the Court of Appeal on July 5, 2023; b) Affidavit of Darren Murphy dated July 4, 2023, with Exhibits “A” through “I” attached; and c) Correspondence from the Deputy Registrar of the Court of Appeal dated July 5, 2023. I am a Registered Party who is named at the top of the notice of application why would I be required to seek status? Veritas Vincit David Raymond Amos On 7/5/23, John Furey <JohnFurey@fureylegal.com> wrote:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wed, Jul 5, 2023 at 1:03 PM
No comments:
Post a Comment