Don't keep the change: N.B. Power preparing to refund all customers, including some owed pennies
Final rate decision from EUB will require small but universal rebates to hundreds of thousands
New calculations by N.B. Power show rebates are likely owed to hundreds of thousands of its customers for amounts they were charged for electricity between April and November.
But making big holiday plans for the approaching windfall is not recommended.
Most refund amounts, particularly to residential customers, will barely finance the price of a cup of coffee.
"The rebate is not going to be material," Alain Chiasson, New Brunswick's public intervener, said in an interview.
"It's going to be a very small amount of refund."
New
Brunswick public intervener Alain Chiasson said based on N.B. Power's
latest filings with the EUB, the utility will be paying 'very small'
refunds to every one of its more than 300,000 customers. (Mario Landry/Radio-Canada)
Earlier this month, the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board issued a decision in N.B. Power's nearly year-long application to raise its rates an average of 19.4 per cent over two years.
That application called for an average 9.25 per cent rate increase this year and a matching 9.25 per cent increase to take effect next April. Rate increases for some customers, including residential, wholesale and industrial, were to be higher, at 9.8 per cent in each of the two years.
However, in its decision on that application, delivered publicly on Nov. 8, the utilities board disallowed some budget items and ordered the utility to recalculate increases to customers after removing those amounts.
In new public filings with the board, N.B. Power said its new calculations show those changes will lower the two 9.8 per cent increases for residential customers to a pair of 9.7 per cent increases, retroactive to April 1.
That triggers the need for refunds, since N.B. Power has been charging residential customers 9.8 per cent more since last April and will have to pay back the difference.
An
Energy and Utilities Board hearing into N.B. Power's request for an
interim rate increase was held in Saint John on March 1. The EUB agreed
to higher charges on April 1 but required customers be refunded, if
eventual approved rate hikes were lower than the utility applied for. (Robert Jones/CBC)
Under the terms of the April increase allowed by the utilities board, it explicitly told N.B. Power the company would have to "make billing adjustments for customers in the event that final rates approved by the Board are different than the rates approved" in the April interim order."
Darren Murphy, N.B. Power's chief financial officer, testified the utility would be able to return every dime required.
"We will ensure that customer bills are adjusted for whatever final decisions are rendered," Murphy said.
"Customers will not be harmed."
N.B.
Power president Lori Clark and chief financial officer Darren Murphy
leaving the utility's first day of rate hearings in front of the EUB
last June. The Energy and Utilities Board delivered a final ruling in
the matter in early November that ordered the utility to lower and
recalculate its rate increases. (Pat Richard/CBC)
Chiasson said that means refunds have to be paid, no matter how small they may be.
"Yes, they have to still make good on that," he said.
"I don't know how N.B. Power will do that exactly but they have mechanisms to refund customers, and I expect that they will do so."
An average residential bill, prior to the latest increase, was $200 per month, not including the HST. The difference between a 9.8 per cent and 9.7 per cent rate increase on a bill of that size is about 20 cents per month.
That would require an average refund to residential customers of about $1.60, plus HST, if the extra amount has been charged over eight months.
The
average residential customer in New Brunswick is billed just over $200
per month, not including taxes. A change in this year's rate increase,
from 9.8 per cent to 9.7 per cent, will save about 20 cents per month on
a bill of that size. (CBC)
Commercial, industrial and municipal customers also qualify for the same 0.1 per cent refund, but Dominique Couture, N.B. Power spokesperson, said in an email the utility cannot calculate rebate amounts just yet because the EUB has not officially approved the utility's recalculation of rates.
"Once approved by the [New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board], we will communicate any changes to customers," wrote Couture.
Saint John Energy would not say if it is expecting a refund from N.B. Power on electricity it has purchased since April and if it will be passing those amounts through to its customers.
"We will await the Board's order before determining next steps," the company said in an email.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
So says the the lawyer who is New Brunswick's latest public intervener
David Amos
Reply to David Amos
N.S. regulator approves Ottawa's $500M bailout for Nova Scotia Power
UARB concludes 'approving the application is in the public interest'
Jean Laroche · CBC News · Posted: Nov 29, 2024 12:41 PM AST
Denis Reagan
Just my luck. Instead of getting a dime, I'll get nine cents, and pennies have no value. I'll see my MP about getting the full dime damn it!
David Amos
Reply to Denis Reagan
They have to round it off in your favour
Denis Reagan
Reply to David Amos
Hope so. I can't afford a lawyer to fight this case.
David Amos
Reply to Denis Reagan
I litigate Pro Se
Denis Reagan
Reply to David Amos
You're on if you promise to keep your cost under $200.
David Amos
Reply to Denis Reagan
I already did on my own behalf
David Amos
Reply to Denis Reagan
I intervened in this matter on your behalf
Rr Snider
Great...now I can retire comfortably.
David Amos
Reply to Rr Snider
I already am BTW I paid my latest power bill yesterday and saw no sign of a rebate
Dan Lee
can they not put it in a fund to offset increases down the road..........................
Tim Locke
Reply to Dan Lee
Seriously? The article states it's less than $2 per household. The time and money to set up a fund would cost more than the entire rebate province-wide.
Dan Lee
Reply to Tim Locke
hundreds of thousands times 2 aint a joke........
Tim Locke
Reply to Dan Lee
It's a joke relative to NB Power's revenue.
David Amos
Reply to Dan Lee
Welcome back to the circus
4 cm of snow left 39,000 without power.... good job NB power.
David Amos
Reply to Jack Bell
I am impressed
Jack Bell
""Customers will not be harmed.""
And yet you are letting them raise rates 19.4%
Tim Locke
Reply to Jack Bell
How much is it after the sales tax is removed?
Jack Bell
Reply to Tim Locke
Still 19.4%.. the tax is added to the rate x your usage.
Tim Locke
Reply to Jack Bell
Total is power though.
David Amos
Reply to Tim Locke
Good question
Jimmy Cochrane
Plain English please with dates. What does this mean ?
"That application called for an average 9.25 per cent rate increase this year and a matching 9.25 per cent increase to take effect next April"
"This year" is almost over. So are we to expect at 18.5% overall increase by April 2025 ?
Samual Johnston
Reply to Jimmy Cochrane
they already implemented the first increase - thus the refund. Did you not notice the increase?
David Amos
Reply to Jimmy Cochrane
Bingo
Allan Marven
On generator today.....but the weather lol.
David Amos
Reply to Allan Marven
Not me not yet anyway My power went out briefly but came right back
Errol Willis
A company that is hugely in debt, now has to pay employees to calculate refunds to customers that amounts to less than $2?
Only in NB
Allan Marven
Reply to Errol Willis
It's called spieight.
Allan Marven
Reply to Allan Marven
And it isn't spelled right.
John Montgomery
Reply to Errol Willis
I'm sure this is Trudeau's fault somehow.
Allan Marven
Reply to John Montgomery
Trudeau doesn't act alone. It's a dynamic duo up there. But yes.
Jimmy Cochrane
Reply to Errol Willis
Be....in this place.
Ronald Miller
Reply to John Montgomery
Jay Tee creates enough screwups that can be directly linked to him that we don't need to make stuff up, unlike what the likes of you did with our former provincial gov't.
John Montgomery
Reply to Ronald Miller
Really? Because i sure heard he was responsible for global inflation and groceries rising above that inflation a lot.
Ronald Miller
Reply to John Montgomery
If you did a little reading on the subject, which you never do, you would read that many economists have linked his taxes and spending habits to increased inflation here in Canada. Of course a carbon tax, which affects the production costs of almost everything, including the groceries we buy, are going to cost more, this is not rocket science.
Tim Locke
Reply to Ronald Miller
I read about it and you failed to mention the fact that the cost increase from the carbon tax is negligible. Global inflation and corporate greed however has caused nearly ALL of the inflation we've seen in the past few years. So why aren't we hearing you complain about the greed of capitalists and the greed of warmongers instead of something that is barely noticeable? It sounds like blind political bias to me.
Jim Lake
Reply to Tim Locke
Bravo Mr Locke - you’re 100% accurate.
Ronald Miller
Reply to Tim Locke
Anyone thinking that a fuel/energy tax, that would be applied at every level of production, and passed on to consumers, does not affect the price of almost everything, and to the upside, is showing ignorance in its highest form. Corporations are doing now, what they have always done, and it is a poor attempt at deflection. Here is just 1 of many articles backing up my post.
https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/agar-canadians-getting-ripped-off
Ronald Miller
Reply to Tim Locke
Criticizing what many articles have summed up as the worst PM in Canadian history is hardly bias, it is called common sense. The fact JM and JL back up your posts confirms I am once again on the right side of this argument.
Ronald Miller
Reply to Tim Locke
It even costs a person more just to drive to the grocery store to get them.
Tim Locke
Reply to Ronald Miller
The majority of the increase in fuel prices is due to sanctions on Russia, not our price on carbon.
Ronald McCallum
Reply to John Montgomery
"I'm sure this is Trudeau's fault somehow."
Pray tell us how the Prime Minister of Canada could be held at fault for something that a Provincially regulated public utility is responsible for?
Tim Locke
Reply to Ronald Miller
You post an article from a Republican backed media source? Give me something that has a chance at not being heavily biased against any price on carbon.
Tim Locke
Reply to Ronald Miller
More articles from Republican funded PostMedia, right?
David Amos
Reply to Jimmy Cochrane
I have been back for 20 years
Ronald Miller
Reply to Tim Locke
Republican funded PostMedia? What? I'm sorry I soundly won this argument but as I have always said, it is easy to do when easy to follow facts are one's side. Try it out sometime.
John Montgomery
Reply to Ronald Miller
Yes Ronald. As I have said before, you are not the only one that realizes that the tax applies at all levels. They calculate all that. That's basically what the field of economics is about.
Al Clark
Refund; $2.
Costs to argue, calculate, and issue refund; $32
David Amos
Reply to Al Clark
Par for the course
N.S. regulator approves Ottawa's $500M bailout for Nova Scotia Power
UARB concludes 'approving the application is in the public interest'
Nova Scotia's Utility and Review Board has approved a $500-million bailout the federal government offered Nova Scotia Power two months ago.
In a decision released Friday, the board concluded Ottawa's loan guarantee would "benefit customers by mitigating the potentially significant rate pressures in the near term that would otherwise occur absent this commercial arrangement."
The decision went on to say the board "concludes that approving the application is in the public interest."
Friday's decision is tied to another application by Nova Scotia Power to determine the impact the loan guarantee would have on rates.
In that filing, Nova Scotia Power told the board that without the federal bailout its customers would see an average rate increase of 19.2 per cent. With the bailout, next year's average increase would be 2.4 per cent.
That's the price to consumers to cover the $42.4 million the utility will pay as the first instalment of a 28-year payback period for the loan.
The UARB is expected to rule on that application early next year.
Nova Scotia Power has been shouldering a growing fuel bill because of delays in getting power from the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric plant in Labrador.
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