Thursday 21 November 2019

Rebooted rate design could spell extreme price changes for NB Power customers

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Replying to and 49 others



 



https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/joi-scientific-funding-1.5411851



NB Power won't spend any more money on Joi Scientific

Minister says he hasn't been given any proof that Joi's hydrogen technology is viable

Karissa Donkin, Jacques Poitras · CBC News · Posted: Dec 31, 2019 4:47 PM AT


NB Power CEO Gaëtan Thomas posed with Joi Scientific executives Robert Koeneman and Traver Kennedy on a beach in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (Joi Scientific)


NB Power has agreed not to spend future money on Joi Scientific's hydrogen technology and will close its Florida lab, following a recommendation from the province's minister of natural resources and energy development.

Joi Scientific claims to have found an efficient way to convert seawater to hydrogen, which would be a significant scientific breakthrough, but two former employees have told CBC News that it doesn't work as advertised.

"NB Power has indicated that they're dispatching with the final logistics of the lease arrangement that they have," Natural Resources and Energy Development Minister Mike Holland said in an interview on Tuesday.

"At that point, that will be the last of the financial obligations."


Joi Scientific received a $13 million licensing fee from NB Power, with $6.7 million from the the Regional Development Corporation. (Karissa Donkin/CBC)

The utility, along with the Regional Development Corporation, spent $13 million Cdn to license Joi's technology.

Earlier this year, Holland said he'd instructed NB Power to continue running its Florida lab while final tests were being performed in December.

On Tuesday, Holland said those tests have been delayed.

"At this particular moment, I have not been presented with any proof of viability," Holland said.
CBC News has contacted Joi Scientific for its response to the government's decision.

'Delays and technical challenges'


A November statement from Joi's vice-president of marketing, Vicky Harris, said the company was committed to working on its technology "in co-operation with our licensees, including NB Power."

The statement said the company has "encountered delays and technical challenges" but is working through them with partners. It didn't elaborate on those delays and technical challenges.

"We remain confident that Joi Scientific is on the right path to create a new, cost-effective, and clean energy source in the form of green hydrogen," the statement said.



Mike Holland, minister of natural resources and energy development, says he doesn't want to spend any more money on Joi Scientific. He says NB Power agreed with his recommendation. (Radio-Canada)


At an appearance in front of a legislative committee in November, NB Power CEO Gaëtan Thomas doubled down on the utility's decision to license the technology, saying it still had "potential."

But he said the company would decide whether to pull the plug on the project by the end of the calendar year or by the end of the fiscal year at the latest.
"Especially where we are now, we don't want to create expectation," Thomas said in November.

"But, obviously, if it doesn't prove out, we'll have to walk away and we'll be the first to come and tell that."

NB Power didn't immediately respond to an interview request for Thomas on Tuesday afternoon.

The Florida lab


In total, the lab has cost NB Power more than $178,000 US this year.

The utility has also spent money on travel to Florida and contracted several companies to do testing and other work on Joi's technology. That work cost the utility at least $51,000, according to documents obtained by CBC News through access to information.

Two companies, Stantec and another company whose name was redacted from the documents, received between $25,000 and $100,000 to do work on the Joi project. Holland confirmed on Tuesday that NB Power will no longer spend money on that work either.

Holland said that he assumes the utility and Joi Scientific will continue to communicate and that Thomas will remain on the company's board, a position he doesn't receive compensation to hold.
"I have no issue with allowing a continued peek over the shoulder as things move forward," the minister said.

"In the event that there is something that comes out of it then, so be it." 


About the Author

Karissa Donkin
Karissa Donkin is a journalist in CBC's Atlantic investigative unit. Do you have a story you want us to investigate? Send your tips to NBInvestigates@CBC.ca.



CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices
 






52 Comments
Commenting is now closed for this story.




David Raymond Amos
Surprise Surprise Surprise 












Lou Bell
Guess Gaetan will have to rub that lamp a lot harder for Aladdin to reappear !!!


David Raymond Amos 
Reply to @Lou Bell: Methinks you should too N'esy Pas?



















David Raymond Amos
Methinks folks should not forget that Higgy and NB Power are making another stab at getting a 100 million bucks for "Not So Smart Meters" with a quicky EUB hearing which begins in 2 weeks then go figure why nobody cares that no public session is mentioned in the schedule N'esy Pas?


David Raymond Amos
Reply to @David Raymond Amos: Methinks the PANB should remind their buddy Higgy what was in the news before the last election N'esy Pas?

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/nb-power-smart-metres-denied-1.4755023

EUB denies NB Power request to deploy smart meters across province
Move would 'not be in the public interest'
Robert Jones · CBC News · Posted: Jul 20, 2018

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/nb-power-rates-gallant-liberal-weather-1.4802946

Liberals promise 4-year freeze on NB Power rates for homeowners, small businesses
PC leader says one way or another, New Brunswickers will pay for a rate freeze
CBC News · Posted: Aug 29, 2018 10:51 AM AT
 
 
David Raymond Amos 
Reply to @David Raymond Amos: Methinks Higgy and my other political foes know I had lots to say about these two articles outside of this domain N'esy Pas?

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/nb-power-rate-increase-carbon-tax-1.5309831

NB Power seeks 2% rate bump, hoping to avoid steep carbon taxes
Utility estimates it could have to pay $380 million in carbon penalties over next 10 years
Robert Jones · CBC News · Posted: Oct 04, 2019 7:14 PM AT

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/cheap-coal-nb-power-1.5374498

Cheap coal stoking NB Power's bottom line — for now
Utility reports it is on track to beat its profit target for the first time in five years
Robert Jones · CBC News · Posted: Nov 27, 2019 7:00 AM AT
 
 
Lou Bell
Reply to @David Raymond Amos: And who exactly are you again ? I know of a wannabe politician who has run many times and come election time they had fewer votes than what was on their nomination papers . Heard of him ?
 
 
David Raymond Amos 
Reply to @Lou Bell: Methinks your hero Higgy and his buddy Holland know that I was an Intervener in the EUB 357 Matter long before those clowns began sending me butter tarts. Trust the fat lady aint sung yet about me versus NB Power, "Not So Smart" Meters and most importantly KPMG. In fact that circus is just about to unfold its tent in Fat Fred City and south of the 49thas well N'esy Pas?

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/nb-power-rate-design-extreme-prices-eub-1.5365757

Rebooted rate design could spell extreme price changes for NB Power customers
Consultants' report to EUB suggests public needs to be on board for changes to work
Robert Jones · CBC News · Posted: Nov 20, 2019 5:30 AM AT
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Paul Bourgoin
NB Power won't spend any more money on Joi Scientific because there isn't any cash left! Mismanagement or ?????????????????????
 
 
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Paul Bourgoin: Methinks its too bad so sad that you would not listen to me when I called N'esy Pas?





















McKenzie King
Now, if they would only get rid of Thomas!!


David Raymond Amos

Reply to @McKenzie King: Methinks everybody knows that he is already packing and waiting for his golden handshake N'esy Pas?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Stephen B B Clarke 
They pulled the wool over Thomas` eyes,easy to do ,just butter him up with flattery and he will spend our money away
 
 
David Raymond Amos 
Reply to @Stephen B B Clarke: Naw Methinks Thomas aint dumb He was just following orders from Norm Betts and the rest of the good old boys who like to milk New Brunswick's biggest cash cow N'esy Pas?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Marc Bourque
ok so where is that $13 million ???? We want it back and the dummy who bought into this deal should be fired for being inept !!
 
 
Chuck Michaels
Reply to @Marc Bourque: In a province where Atcon and other debacles have gone down (Lepreau refurbishment, anyone?)... this is chump change. At least we are learning to say "enough". NOW the trick is to be able to say "NO" at the starting gate. HELLO "smart meters"?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Michel Forgeron
Two geniuses and one burnt light bulb.
 
David Raymond Amos  
Reply to @Michel Forgeron: Yea Right
 
 
 
 
 
Chuck Michaels
Good riddance . Now if we can stop overspending on Crown Corporation CEOs and senior civil servants.
 
 
David Raymond Amos 
Reply to @Chuck Michaels: Dream on



















Michael Durant
New Brunswickers want to pay higher electricity bills for revolutionary technology that will bring down our carbon emissions and give us a cheap alternative. This is not the time to pull out, rather the time to invest even more.


Fred Brewer
Reply to @Michael durant: so how many shares of Joi Scientific do you personally own?
 
 
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Fred Brewer: We all have a stake in this




















Fred Brewer
In the lamp photo, Mr. Thomas is smiling because he thinks he just got a sweetheart deal while the two Joi executives are smiling because they cannot believe their scam worked.




David Raymond Amos 
Reply to @Fred Brewer: So you say
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Michael Durant
This scientific revolution will pay out big in a world looking to reduce its carbon emissions. It would also put New Brunswick on the map of leading edge technology.
 
 
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Michael durant: Yea Right
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
David Raymond Amos 
Methinks Minister Holland and his boss Higgy are gonna enjoy my reply to their fan Lou Bell N'esy Pas?














https://twitter.com/DavidRayAmos/with_replies





Replying to   @alllibertynews and 49 others 
Methinks everybody who read this report knows I was one of the concerned citizens invited to attend the secret meetings but they don't know is where I stood in the matter N'esy Pas? 


https://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2019/11/rebooted-rate-design-could-spell.html






 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/nb-power-rate-design-extreme-prices-eub-1.5365757




Rebooted rate design could spell extreme price changes for NB Power customers

Consultants' report to EUB suggests public needs to be on board for changes to work


Robert Jones · CBC News · Posted: Nov 20, 2019 5:30 AM AT




Rate design could bring about major changes to NB Power's pricing scheme. (Michael Heenan/CBC)

A recently revived Energy and Utilities Board review is examining potentially extreme pricing changes that would shift more cost to residential consumers in New Brunswick with electric heat and move other residential consumption to lower demand periods.

The so-called "rate design" initiative could eventually result in premium prices for consumers in high-demand periods, discounts during lulls, special charges for peak monthly consumption levels, known as demand charges, or other measures or combinations of measures designed to reshape New Brunswick electricity demand.

The changes are being considered in an effort to make prices fairer between consumers who heat with electricity and those who don't and to help manage costly swings in demand that plague NB Power each winter.


Still, a pair of U.S.-based consultants who are helping frame the issues to be considered in an overhaul of prices warn the public needs to be supportive for any change to work, even if those changes are ultimately revenue neutral.


Ahmad Faruqui is a San Francisco-based consultant with the Brattle Group, which led stakeholder workshops over the summer aimed at restarting an initiative to overhaul rates charged by NB Power. (Brattle Group)

"Most changes in rate design will raise bills for some customers and lower them for other customers,"  wrote Ahmad Faruqui and Cecile Bourbonnais in a report to the EUB released last week.

"If not properly explained or rolled out, even simple rates can cause confusion and subsequently backlash from customers."

Rate design workshops

Faruqui and Bourbonnais led three workshops this summer among NB Power "stakeholders" to restart consideration of better electricity pricing in New Brunswick after the process began and then stalled in 2017.

Participants this summer included representatives of NB Power, the EUB, J.D. Irving Ltd., Enbridge Gas New Brunswick Ltd. (now Liberty Utilities), public intervenor Heather Black, municipal governments, municipal electric utilities, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business and individual concerned citizens.
 

The EUB ordered NB Power in 2016 to prepare for a 'rate design' hearing, but the effort stalled in 2017 after the utility asked for a delay so it could apply for approval of smart meters first. The EUB agreed but has since resumed the rate design initiative.

The consultants' report on those sessions concluded there is strong support already among New Brunswick energy players for winter and non-winter "seasonal rates" for consumers as an initial way to tilt more NB Power costs toward people who use electricity for winter heat and away from those who don't.


"Under NB Power's current tariff for residential customers, the higher cost of heating usage is likely being subsidized by customers without electric heating," wrote the consultants. "Space heating demand is generally concentrated in peak periods when generation costs are highest."

Seasonal electricity rates would involve some kind of discount on NB Power's current residential charge of 11.18 cents per kilowatt hour in the seven months between April and October, offset by a premium price charged during the bulk of heating season between November and March.
Even though that would not raise more money for the utility, it could cost some customers significantly more depending on how the discounts and premiums are set.

"Seasonal rates will raise bills for customers who use more energy in peak season than the average customer and lower bills for customers who use less energy in the peak season," wrote the consultants.

"Seasonal rates have the benefit of being relatively simple and understandable to customers."

Multiple options


That change alone could be a tough sell to the public given that more than 60 per cent of NB Power's residential customers heat with electricity, but the review may look at even more dramatic changes, depending on whether NB Power's separate application to acquire smart meters is successful.

The consultants said a rate design hearing could decide daily "time of use" rates are in the public interest where prices can rise and fall by the hour, sometimes as much as 300 per cent  during periods of high and low demand. 


Public intervener Heather Black was one of 11 participants to participate in electricity rate design workshops this summer. The sessions concluded with a consensus that 'seasonal rates' for residential customers would be worth pursuing along with a number of other proposals. (CBC)

Those rates have been successful in shifting consumption in other jurisdictions, the consultants noted, especially in conjunction with smart meters and other technologies.

"Evidence from nearly 350 deployments worldwide shows that customers respond to time-varying rates, and that their price response is boosted with enabling technology," they wrote.

Other options that might be considered are "block rates" where electricity prices increase after a monthly limit is surpassed by a household or "demand charges" where the peak amount of electricity a house uses over a 15- to 60-minute span in a given month is documented and billed.

 "Some of the rates can be combined. They are not mutually exclusive," the consultants said of the multiple options that exist to change the way consumers are charged.
Faruqui and Bourbonnais recommended a number of steps before implementing any changes, including studying in detail NB Power's costs, production and customer loads to properly determine who should pay what for power with rates designed accordingly.

They estimated it would take two years of preparation before rates could begin to be changed.

As a first step, the two are scheduled to formally present their findings in person to the EUB at a hearing Dec. 17 and answer questions on how the board might proceed.




CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices





199 Comments  
Commenting is now closed for this story.




 
David Amos 
Methinks everybody who read this report knows that I was one of individual concerned citizens who was invited to attend However what folks don't know is where I stood in the matter. Folks can trust that I did not agree with the secret creation of this "Strawman Report" nor any of its malicious nonsense in support of the purchase of "Not So Smart Meters" and the corresponding further increases of our power bills N'esy Pas?

"Participants this summer included representatives of NB Power, the EUB, J.D. Irving Ltd., Enbridge Gas New Brunswick Ltd. (now Liberty Utilities), public intervenor Heather Black, municipal governments, municipal electric utilities, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business and individual concerned citizens."  

























David Amos
Surprise Surprise Surprise


Terry Tibbs
Reply to @David Amos:
No "surprise".
NB Hydro is well used to treating the residents of NB as their very own private ATM.


David Amos 
Reply to @Terry Tibbs: Methinks you really should read the consultants' report before arguing with me N'esy Pas?




















Justin Time
Funny how the Brattle Group did a study in 2018 in Britain entitled “Two Paths for Advancing Great Britain’s Smart Metering Programme,”.You can hire a consultant to advance any cause you want.


David Amos
Reply to @Justin Time: YUP





















Justin Time
Unbelievable! For years they pushed people to convert to cleaner electric heat and now those same people are going to be penalized? I wonder what the percentage is of customers who don't heat with electricty? And is it just a coincidence that this whole scheme relies on smart meters? So can we now expect wood heat and fossil fuels to make a big comeback in the province? They are really environmentally friendly! NOT. And we know who supplies those. How about taking a look at big industrial customers rates,not commercial and residential customers.


Colin Curry
Reply to @Justin Time: article says about 60% heat with electric... I am more concerned about how low income families will be impacted. Not a very balanced article, and their workshops don't discuss who spoke on behalf of the citizenry as "concerned citizens".


Johnny Horton 
Reply to @Colin Curry:
Just Ms Black, the public intervenor. That’s all the citizens got. Meanwhile government and business had dozens of peole st the workshops.


David Amos
Reply to @Colin Curry: "their workshops don't discuss who spoke on behalf of the citizenry as "concerned citizens".

I definitely did


David Amos
Reply to @David Amos: Trust that there was nobody named "Johnny Horton" present at the meetings























Alex Forbes
Big corporations were part of the group discussing this? How else can NBers help save the Irvings more money?


David Amos
Reply to @Alex Forbes: Exactly 


Robert L. Brown
Ahmad Faruqui and Cecile Bourbonnais where did they dig up these consultants and how much are we paying them


Brad Little
Reply to @Robert L. Brown: Good question.


Debi Mcdonald
Reply to @Robert L. Brown: Agree ! Maybe it is time for the customers of NB power to ask questions and demand accountability . As in 10 million dollars .....


David Amos 
Reply to @Robert L. Brown: They paid the Yankees 100 grand for the "Strawman Report" 

 
Roger Thompson
Nothing NB Power does or will do is designed to reduce costs to the residence of NB. No so-called smart meter will be used to reduce the users costs, just give them excuses to up the rates. It's time for NB to get rid of the incompetent exec's and beingnjn some good management. No more JOI fiascos.


Johnny Horton 
Reply to @Roger Thompson:
Nb power portion of the joi fiasco was 7m. With about 600000 power accounts, that’s sbout $11 per rate payer. Or less than s dollsr w month for a year. Or one less time coffee every three months.
Yes the fiasco shouldn’t have happened, but let’s be realistic in what it really means, Pepe continue to think thst ir it didn’t happen, rates would be cut in half.


Johnny Horton
Reply to @Johnny Horton:
I tipped my taxi driver the other day a buck or so. that was more money than my ratepayer share of the nb power exec bonuses.
Sure there should be bonuses, but I’m not gonna complain for months about the loss of a buck, I can not even buy a coffee if. I Had that money back.


Shawn McShane 
Reply to @Johnny Horton: 300,000 power accounts including businesses across New Brunswick. NB Power paid Joi $13 Million And now they want $100 Million for smart meters.


Johnny Horton  
Reply to @Shawn McShane:
No pwer paid about 7m. The rest Came from the government patronage agency.
Either way, it’s still not a cup of coffee once a month,


David Amos 
Reply to @Roger Thompson: That what I told at the secret meetings 




















 
Justin Time
This consultants report is designed to garner public support for smart meters and will only work if smart meters are deployed. However in a province of 750,000 the initial costs and the bureaucracy needed to implement them cannot justify them. They have proved to produce questionable net savings and even produce net losses in many areas they have been implemented. The only winners will be the meter suppliers and the software companies that provide the resources to monitor them.


Johnny Horton  
Reply to @Justin Time:
I think people look wrongly at the purpose of smart meters. They were never made to save money. They are designed to balance system wide load. So that a power company doesn’t need to be able to produce white as high as a maximum output.


Johnny Horton 
Reply to @Johnny Horton:
*quite as high


David Amos 
Reply to @Justin Time: Methinks its too bad so sad that folks cannot review my comments about this topic all summer long but they can download my documents from the EUB N'esy Pas?


John Pokiok
Hydro Quebec has abundance of clean electricity just buy it from them they have hard time finding customers. Or even better take a look what a well run hydro company looks like NB Power could learn a lot from them.


Johnny Horton  
Reply to @John Pokiok:
Yes, no power should have ripped off Nfld and given us cheaper rates out of it.


Johnny Horton  
Reply to @John Pokiok:
I prefer my power rates to be ethically based, not cheap due to ripping off other provinces.


Anne Bérubé
Reply to @John Pokiok: Learn these following facts: Quebec is as much an oil state as Alberta. They just let others produce it. Quebec is also riddled with pipelines. Quebec's biggest source of oil is the Alberta oilsands. It travels to refineries in Montreal via a long tube known as a pipeline. Do not believe everything Blanchet and the Quebec government is saying. They are also No. 1 buyers in Canada of the Ford F150, the Dodge Ram and GMC Sierra, big stud gas-guzzling trucks. So while Quebec want the world to think they are a 'clean' province, they let other jurisdictions produce the oil!!! And they use it abundantly.


David Amos 
Reply to @John Pokiok: True


David Amos 
Reply to @Anne Bérubé: Also true

Fred Brewer
Reply to @Anne Bérubé: 97% of Quebec's electricity comes from its own clean hydro reserves. Hydro Quebec is enormously profitable and has been so for decades. We need to stop pretending that NB Power can ever be a world class utility and let the professionals take over. Whether it is Hydro Quebec or some other company, it is time to admit that doing the same thing over and over and over again, is simply not working. Care to imagine what would happen to a Hydro Quebec CEO who invested in Joi magic beans? He or she would have been fired in an instant. That's how you remain profitable; through accountability.
















Shawn McShane
Congressional Testimony: ‘Smart’ meters
A surprising admission was provided by one of the expert witnesses.
Mr. Bennett Gaines of FirstEnergy Service Company: “These devices are now computers. They don’t have the life of an existing meter which is 20 to 30 years. These devices have a life of between 5 to 7 years and have to be maintained."


Johnny Horton   
Reply to @Shawn McShane:

Good. I’d hardly want s smart meter thirty years old running ancient tech.



Johnny Horton  
Reply to @Shawn McShane:
So you spend how much on a cell phone and replace it how often?


Shawn McShane 
Reply to @Johnny Horton: My cell is 8 yrs old, $30 per month. If I stuck it on the wall beside the meter in the snow, wind, rain and -20s I would have to replace it daily.


Johnny Horton 
Reply to @Shawn McShane:
Well you certainly aren’t the typical nb cell phone buyer,
I think you can get my point nonetheless. We will gladly waste money on gadgets that are run, but don’t want to do anything to actually help things,


Shawn McShane 
Reply to @Johnny Horton: NBers are the lowest paid highest taxed in Canada. 3/4 don't have the money to waste on gadgets, $100 million meters included.


David Amos 
Reply to @Shawn McShane: Methinks you should read the consultants' report N'esy Pas?


BruceJack Speculator 
Reply to @Shawn McShane: everyone notices how after software updates from M/S get loaded, usually there is a new strange "crash" of your computer until the update gets updated. Can't wait to have the power interrupted or the rate accidentally bumped up to the "peak period" rate for a month because of "software updates" ! 



















 
SarahRose Werner
How can penalizing people who heat with electricity be considered desirable when almost all other major forms of heating - oil, natural gas, propane, wood - release CO2? Electricity at least has the option of being produced from "clean" sources.

 
Johnny Horton 
Reply to @SarahRose Werner:
You said it yourself...

Has the option,

As in just because it is electricity doesn’t mean it is clean.


Anne Bérubé
Reply to @SarahRose Werner: For your information, natural gas (which it is catastrophic in New Brunswick because of God's knows, mis-management) releases very little emissions. It is one of the cleanest source of heat and cheap (except in N.B.). Furthermore, how do you think electricity is produced? If you think YOUR electricity you use every day is free of emissions, think about. Better get some more accurate information.


SarahRose Werner
Reply to @Anne Bérubé: Natural gas is mostly methane, CH4. Burning methane is like burning any other hydrocarbon. The process involves combining it with oxygen to produce water and CO2: CH4 + 2O2 -> CO2 + 2H2O. Thus, CO2 is necessarily emitted. *Some* means of producing electricity necessarily produce CO2. Some don't (nuclear, wind, etc.). It's *possible* to heat with electricity without producing CO2 in a way that's *not* possible when heating with natural gas.


SarahRose Werner 
Reply to @Anne Bérubé: PS Better take a basic course in organic chemistry.


David Amos
Reply to @SarahRose Werner: Trust that nobody truly cares


Ronald Stevenson
Reply to @SarahRose Werner: 50+ years ago NBPower was promoting the cost benefits of electric heat. I built one if the first all-electric houses in Fredericton and was recognized with a gold medallion doorbell cover.

BruceJack Speculator
Reply to @Anne Bérubé: Further to the response from Sarah Rose W because natural gas is mostly methane there is bound to be some loss or leakage somewhere in the system that gets gas from ground to house. One estimate I saw said that if more than about 3% of the methane is lost to the atmosphere, burning natural gas is actually as bad as burning coal. That is because methane is many times more effective than carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the atmosphere.


Fred Brewer 
Reply to @Anne Bérubé: Anne Berube said: "Furthermore, how do you think electricity is produced?" Excellent question and here is the answer from NB Power's website. "Currently, 40 per cent of its energy is from renewable sources and 74 per cent is non-emitting when Point Lepreau is added. The utility is on track to contribute to the provincial goal of having as much as 75 per cent of the electricity used in New Brunswick coming from clean, renewable or non-emitting sources by 2020."
So contrary to your statement, people who think their electricity is free from emissions are largely correct. 


Alexandre Hilton 
Reply to @Fred Brewer: Did you even read what you just posted? In what world is uranium 'renewable' ?? Newsflash - Point Lepreau is a Nuclear power plant, not a wind farm. Also please don't start talking about thorium. Or do if you want, but just know that people like myself will throw you in with the flat-eathers if you truly think thorium power generation will be possible in our lifetime. Let me guess - you also think hydrogen energy is coming in the near future, as well?


SarahRose Werner
Reply to @Alexandre Hilton: Did *you* read what Fred posted? According to NB Power, 40% of their energy is from renewable sources. *Another* 34% (i.e, Point Lepreau) is from sources that are *not* renewable but also do not emit CO2 ("non-emitting"). They hope to get 75% of their energy from "clean, renewable OR non-emitting sources" by 2020, i.e., from sources that are either renewable or, if not renewable, at least non-emitting.
 



















David White
NB Power has bad public relations and they have absolutely no clue how to fix it.

Sad thing is, it's an obvious fix... listen to the public.

People are angry that your infrastructure is 2nd rate after a storm, they are angry you blew 13 plus mil on an idiotic idea rather than fix your grid, they are angry you want to raise rates and demonstrate no added value to them for the hike.

The average person does not complain about paying more for good service, they complain when they don't see the value for the money even if your rates are some of the lowest in Atlantic Canada.

Your PR & Management needs a whole-house cleaning.


David Amos
Reply to @David White: YUP















Joseph Vacher
This will be rejected,heat bills are hard enough on a lot of new Brunswickers


David Amos
Reply to @Joseph Vacher: I have been doing my part while folks laughed me for reasons I will never understand

















Chuck Michaels
Lesseee.... Amazon.. Kijiji... WHERE shall I buy some solar panels - get off grid - and escape the merry-go-round....?


David Amos
Reply to @Chuck Michaels: Welcome to the Circus

Chuck Michaels
Reply to @David Amos: Is this like the "stuff-a-car" in the center ring? How many clowns can be fit into a boardroom...?















Marty Norrad
This is just another opportunity for Irving Corporation to extort the EUB, they'll state that as a major industrial "contributor" to New Brunswick's economy they should be exempt from, or more likely, will request their rates be lowered; and the difference should be shifted onto the backs of residential customers (who should be grateful that they live under the benevolent gaze of Irving, in the banana republic called New Brunswick)


David Amos 
Reply to @Marty Norrad: Of course 




















Trevis L. Kingston
As an retired Industrial Electrician of 43 years... "Load Shedding" is an industrial method of
controlling peak-time energy costs.
You monitor power used... set a high limit... and when that limit is reached... non-critical
electrical loads are shed... ensuring that you never exceed your chosen limit.
Residentially, water heaters and other non- essential power users are shed.
Many Hydronically (H2O) heated homes, install large insulated tanks that can be heated in
low-cost times... releasing hot water to heat the homes during high cost hours.
We, as residents, are entering into the more "computer" controlled energy management future.
It will always be the case... that the less kilowatt hours one uses... the more a kilowatt hour will cost. It is unavoidable. The infrastructure must be maintained.


David Amos  
Reply to @Trevis L. Kingston: "It will always be the case... that the less kilowatt hours one uses... the more a kilowatt hour will cost. It is unavoidable. The infrastructure must be maintained."

It ain't rocket science 


Beverley Kernan
In the end, NB Power will be paying over 92 Million dollars for Smart Meters that still pose a fire risk, even if due to faulty installations of meters manufactured by Sensus. Ontario and Saskatchewan have had this issue.
The 2 US-based consultants from The Brattle Group, a well-respected international financial consultant firm, say that public input and education are imperative to avoid confusion and anger with a new rate structure . Especially for something that is "revenue neutral". (think back to GST).
If the installation of smart meters and all the background work required is ultimately 'revenue neutral', then why bother.
Personally, I would rather see some of that $92M subsidize the power bills of our low-income citizens and/or increase the financial assistance to existing retrofit programs.
There is simply no "one size that fits all".


David Amos
Reply to @Beverley Kernan: Follow the money to see who benefits from this nonsense


Paul Eric Eric Lagace 
Reply to @Beverley Kernan: If you house is on fire, you're not heating it with electricity = WIN


Beverley Kernan
Reply to @paul eric eric lagace: It is the installation of the smart meter, not the heating system. 















 
Brian Robertson
So, regardless of past rulings by the EUB and the express wishes of New Brunswickers to NOT install smart maters, it is painfully obvious that NB Power intends to do precisely that, and to charge the people to do so.
This seriously calls into question the purpose and authority of the EUB. Why bother with these farcical hearings if the utility has the prerogative to simply ignore rulings and to whatever it wishes?

NB Power is seriously in need of a lesson on who is working for whom.


David Amos 
Reply to @Brian Robertson: Why do you think the EUB continued to bar me from their hearings?
 
 
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