N.B. Power report based on 'facts and evidence,' auditors tell MLAs

Jacques Poitras · CBC News

· Posted: May 15, 2025 2:45 PM EDT | Last Updated: 6 minutes ago

Auditors who examined an evident wintertime spike successful N.B. Power bills person persuaded 1 absorption enactment that meters are moving decently — but different enactment inactive has doubts.

The 2 elder auditors from KPMG Canada spent astir 3 hours Thursday fielding questions from MLAs astir their conclusions that the utility's residential meters accurately measured the energy customers were consuming.

"Our enactment was focused connected facts and grounds and information and analytics-based work. It was robust and it was thorough," said Andrea Coish, an auditor and managing spouse of KPMG's Halifax office.

Jack Martin, a KPMG adept successful forensic information analytics, told the nationalist accounts committee that "there's nary grounds that either accepted meters oregon astute meters were overstating the powerfulness depletion of New Brunswick Power residential customers." 

They said it was up to N.B. Power to look astatine wherefore immoderate ratepayers were consuming much energy than they believed.

The anecdotal grounds of unexplained spikes successful January powerfulness bills enactment the Holt Liberal authorities connected the antiaircraft past winter, prompting it to telephone successful KPMG.

WATCH |  'Our enactment was focused connected facts': auditors grilled by MLAs

The auditors examined 400 cases of measure spikes — enough to supply a statistically close representation of each customers, Martin said.

The study backed N.B. Power's archetypal mentation that a acold winter, a longer December billing play and a large complaint summation — which whitethorn person passed unnoticed until wintertime — combined to jolt customers with precocious bills.

At slightest 1 Liberal MLA said helium was convinced.

"We request to instrumentality to the facts and the information was, connected the 400-plus meters, determination was thing incorrect astir that," Hautes-Terres-Nepisiguit Liberal MLA Luc Robichaud told reporters.

Green Party Leader David Coon, who had raised questions astir the accuracy of immoderate N.B. Power bills, said helium was persuaded by the presentation.

"My presumption is that the report, aft each the questioning, finds that the strategy is functioning decently for New Brunswickers successful presumption of making definite that the bills they're being fixed bespeak their existent consumption," helium said.

"I'm assured that's the lawsuit now." 

But Progressive Conservative vigor professional Kris Austin said helium believes immoderate New Brunswickers volition stay unpersuaded due to the fact that KPMG relied connected meter data collected by N.B. Power's ain meter testers.

"What we had called for was a reappraisal and a investigating of the meters extracurricular of N.B. Power's purview. That's what we wanted to see. That's what did not happen," helium said.

N.B. Power CEO Lori Clark told the committee that the utility's testers, who are certified by a national agency, Measurement Canada, would beryllium risking their careers if they deliberately faked immoderate numbers.

"There's nary inducement for a tester to shaper fraudulent results. These are highly trained individuals who would suffer their certification and their jobs if they didn't measurement properly," she said.

Austin told reporters it was his occupation arsenic an MLA to bespeak nationalist skepticism astatine the committee, adjacent aft 3 hours of adept testimony. 

"It's not my spot to archer ratepayers the meters are moving properly. My idiosyncratic sentiment — I person nary crushed to judge they're not," helium told reporters.

"It's not whether I'm satisfied. It's whether ratepayers are satisfied, and what I'm proceeding from galore ratepayers is they're not satisfied."

Clark told the committee that Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador each experienced a nationalist backlash to akin measure spikes during the wintertime — and authorities successful each 3 provinces came to the aforesaid conclusions arsenic N.B. Power.

Clark acknowledged to the MLAs that it has been a conflict for N.B. Power to person immoderate customers that they're consuming much energy than they believe.

The inferior plans to supply much accusation to ratepayers, including astir however their habits and the upwind whitethorn impact their bills.

"We person recognized done this process that a batch of our customers bash not recognize however they are utilizing energy and they cognize precise small astir however depletion is measured and however overmuch they're utilizing successful their homes. So determination is an acquisition requirement, for sure." 

Clark told MLAs that N.B. Power needs their assistance to propulsion backmost astatine what she called misinformation and misperceptions circulating online, peculiarly connected societal media.

"I recognize the cognition and I anticipation we've been capable to show to you, and to New Brunswickers, that the cognition isn't reality."