P.E.I.'s Fiona-hit electrical grid remains at risk due to 'legislative restrictions': consultant

Kerry Campbell · CBC News

· Posted: May 05, 2025 6:33 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 minutes ago

More than 2 and a fractional years aft post-tropical tempest Fiona wreaked havoc connected Prince Edward Island's electrical grid, limitations connected however trees tin beryllium trimmed on powerfulness lines proceed to enactment the strategy astatine hazard during highly precocious winds, a consultant's study warns.

The crushed the contented continues to beryllium flagged arsenic a imaginable hazard is the evident inaction by the state successful expanding entree for Maritime Electric to trim trees beyond the existent right-of-way, a interest initially raised arsenic acold backmost arsenic October 2022, the period aft Fiona struck.

The Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission hired U.K.-based consulting steadfast EA Technology to measure Maritime Electric's Fiona response, arsenic the commission assessed the company's exertion to rise energy rates to recoup the costs associated with that response.

• READ: The study IRAC commissioned from advisor EA Technology

The advisor concluded a deficiency of vegetation absorption by Maritime Electric during the lead-up to Fiona led to "increased rates of strategy harm caused by preventable histrion contacts," which successful crook led to outages connected specified a wide standard it "significantly extended customer's restoration times," which successful immoderate cases were longer than 3 weeks.

EA said an summation successful vegetation absorption efforts by Maritime Electric since Fiona is "expected to amended wide electrical strategy show connected blue-sky days.

"However, owed to existent legislative restrictions and limitations, these programs are improbable to forestall aboriginal windfall histrion contacts during high-wind upwind events."

'A fewer items that we request to change'

When Liberal MLA Robert Henderson questioned him connected the taxable successful the provincial legislature connected Friday, P.E.I.'s Minister of Environment and Energy Gilles Arsenault had this to say: "We are moving guardant with Maritime Electric. We are looking astatine the vegetation absorption plan. We bash person a fewer items that we request to alteration successful our regulations."

"Regulatory changes tin hap connected immoderate fixed Tuesday," Henderson responded, referring to the signifier of regulatory changes being implemented astatine play authorities furniture meetings. 

"As I look astatine the docket present for our legislation, if it's a legislative change, there's thing connected the docket connected that either. So, I'm conscionable wondering what the hold is connected this?"

A spokesperson for the Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action noted successful an email to CBC News that P.E.I.'s Electric Power Act "currently has provisions related to entering onshore without support for the purposes of surveying and readying vegetation absorption work, but presently the [act] does not assistance the authorization to execute vegetation absorption enactment without support of the spot owner."

The spokesperson said a fig of imaginable legislative changes are being reviewed arsenic the state develops a caller vigor strategy. 

Maritime Electric told CBC News that amending the enactment to see thing called "power of entry" for utilities "would assistance the inferior authorization to participate spot and execute attraction connected its infrastructure, including vegetation management, erstwhile indispensable for information oregon reliability purposes.

"This authorities is not uncommon crossed the state and successful information exists successful respective provinces," the inferior noted.

In immoderate case, the institution said it would besides inquire support archetypal earlier doing enactment connected backstage land.

When asked astir this aforesaid contented successful precocious 2023, erstwhile vigor curate Steven Myers raised concerns astir the rights of backstage spot owners, and said immoderate changes were to beryllium made would instrumentality time.

Interest costs gathering up

Maritime Electric, which is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Fortis Inc., applied to IRAC successful November 2023 to rise energy rates connected P.E.I. to recoup the astir $37 cardinal the inferior spent to reconstruct powerfulness aft Fiona. IRAC inactive has not ruled connected whether the complaint summation tin spell ahead.

In the meantime, involvement costs proceed to accrue connected those expenses. In its archetypal application, Maritime Electric calculated those costs astatine $2.37 cardinal up until February 2024, averaging astir $170,000 per month.

In its report, EA Technology said it believed Maritime Electric's costs had been "prudently accrued" — a request nether the Electric Power Act for costs to beryllium passed onto customers done a complaint increase.

But the study besides raised questions astir what Maritime Electric has been prepared to bash pre- and post-Fiona successful bid to physique a much resilient electrical grid — for example, by burying immoderate lines oregon gathering others to a higher operation standard.

"The enactment should make a cohesive long-term, forward-looking asset-management strategy designed to physique strategy resilience," the authors concluded.

The study besides questions whether Maritime Electric's emergency-response readying reflects the expanding "magnitude, severity and frequence of adverse upwind events" oregon considers the anticipation that successful future, calls for communal assistance from different utilities whitethorn spell unanswered, if those utilities themselves are besides dealing with the effects of adverse weather.

"It whitethorn present beryllium the clip for Maritime Electric to see however they volition beryllium capable to present a timely and effectual exigency effect into the future, and the anticipation that existing communal assistance … whitethorn beryllium incapable to supply what Maritime Electric need."

Maritime Electric told CBC News it has expanded its incidental bid strategy (ICS) exemplary arsenic portion of efforts to summation its capableness to respond to utmost upwind events.