Newfoundland Power reports no pricing errors after sifting through 7,500 bills, following public outcry

Alex Kennedy · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 25, 2025 4:30 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

Newfoundland Power says a reappraisal of much than 7,500 lawsuit bills recovered zero anomalies, and reiterated past comments that a colder and windier February is to blasted for powerfulness bills that mightiness beryllium much costly than usual.

Newfoundland Power CEO Gary Murray told reporters Monday that each bills are already reviewed earlier they're sent to the customer, but each measure was reassessed for errors.

"No billing anomalies were identified," helium said.

The reappraisal follows 577 calls from acrophobic customers implicit inflated bills successful caller weeks. Murray said that translates to betwixt 40 and 50 calls a day.

Residents person besides shared their concerns with CBC News, who said their bills doubled successful immoderate cases. Some had besides voiced concerns implicit the accuracy of their meter readings.

The Public Utilities Board acted connected those calls, asking Newfoundland Power to study connected however it makes definite meter readings are accurate.

Murray said Newfoundland Power has independently tested much than 5,000 metres done national bureau Measurement Canada since 2018, and has a 99.9 per cent accuracy rate.

The study brought 4 large findings arsenic to however bills could person been higher than mean successful February.

One of those findings is simply a colder month, with below-average temperatures that lasted for respective weeks.

Using information collected by Environment Canada, Newfoundland Power noted a 5.6 grade driblet successful mean temperatures betwixt January and February and 20 per cent much upwind connected average.

"While we person had a milder wintertime overall, that does not mean that it has not been cold," Murray said.

"Colder extracurricular temperatures and upwind origin location heating systems to enactment harder to support the somesthesia acceptable connected your thermostat. This means higher heating usage and cost, adjacent erstwhile the thermostat mounting remains the same."

There are besides different factors Murray said played into higher bills, similar fluctuations successful the fig of billing days.

For example, if a meter was scheduled to beryllium work connected a Saturday and was it was alternatively work archetypal happening Monday morning, your measure would see 2 other days.

"If a lawsuit had, you know, 1 other billing time successful the month.... In 30 days, that's a 3 per cent increase, oregon 3 days [extra] is astir a 10 per cent increase," Murray said.

A 7 per cent complaint summation that came into August would besides summation bills year-over-year from February autarkic of usage, helium said, adding $7 to every $100.

Murray said Newfoundland Power hopes to amended explicate the interaction of wintertime upwind connected energy costs starting adjacent fall, and is continuing efforts to enactment connected flexible outgo options for residents.

That alteration could beryllium shadowed by different increase as the institution is expected to record a complaint exertion earlier the extremity of April that would apt bring an summation successful July.

Smart metres would lick concerns: user advocate

Dennis Browne, Newfoundland and Labrador's user advocate, told CBC News Monday helium doesn't instrumentality objection to what the study says, but believes nationalist outcry could person been avoided.

He says that could beryllium done with astute meters, which would spot much accusation successful the hands of complaint payers.

"If radical had astute meters, they'd beryllium capable to power their ain usage and show their ain usage. They'd beryllium capable to spot what their usage is each 5 minutes, if they wanted to," Browne said.

"We tin nary longer proceed with this fiasco during the wintertime months."

Download our free CBC News app to motion up for propulsion alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our daily headlines newsletter here. Click here to sojourn our landing page.