Rate increases, colder temps behind N.B. Power bill spikes, review finds

Silas Brown · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 25, 2025 4:20 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 infinitesimal ago

A spike successful New Brunswick vigor bills to commencement the wintertime was owed to higher powerfulness costs and freezing temperatures, according to a third-party review.  

N.B. Power CEO Lori Clark told reporters Friday that she understands the findings whitethorn beryllium of small comfortableness to those who struggled to wage their bills this winter, but she hopes the results volition supply immoderate level of assurance successful the embattled utility.

"Having the spot and assurance of New Brunswickers is important to the utility," Clark said. "It's 1 of the astir important things for the utility.

"This study contiguous should springiness customers assurance that our metering and billing systems are moving properly, and that astute meters really supply a instrumentality for them to assistance negociate their vigor usage implicit time."

The appraisal of N.B. Power bills by auditing work KPMG recovered that bills were astir 25 per cent higher successful December 2024 than the erstwhile year. Of that increase, 13 per cent was based connected a complaint summation that took effect successful April 2024 and 12 per cent was owed to consumption. 

KPMG unit told reporters during a method briefing that the figures enactment up with frosty temperatures, which were 11 to 16 per cent colder than the anterior December. According to the report, determination was a "statistically important correlation betwixt upwind temperatures and powerfulness consumption."

WATCH | Cold temperatures driving powerfulness costs: 

Billing periods were besides an mean of 1.24 days longer than the twelvemonth before, and determination were 68 per cent less outage hours than the aforesaid play the twelvemonth prior. Billing cycles person fluctuated from 28 days to 31 days, but the inferior says it plans to marque them the aforesaid successful future.

Clark said the inferior wants to find ways to lessen the load of caller complaint hikes connected customers and is launching respective initiatives with that aim. 

"We bash cognize that the results of this volition not marque it immoderate easier for immoderate of those customers who are struggling to wage their bills to really wage those bills," Clark said. 

"We cognize successful New Brunswick that we person immoderate of the lowest rates successful Canada, but due to the fact that of the precocious dependence connected electrical vigor that our customers person immoderate of the largest bills. So determination are surely immoderate actions that we tin instrumentality to assistance customers negociate their consumption."

Clark reiterated N.B. Power's commitment to applying "time of usage" metering erstwhile astute meters are installed crossed the province, apt adjacent year.

"Time of usage" billing volition let customers to opt successful to a differential complaint structure, wherever they wage much for powerfulness during highest times but a lesser complaint extracurricular those periods. 

466 accounts got person look

To behaviour its reappraisal KPMG analyzed 466 lawsuit accounts, comparing December 2024 bills to December 2023 and November 2024. 

Of those, 275 did not person their metre changed successful the past year, 46 had a wintertime highest successful the past five years wrong 10 per cent of the depletion recorded successful December 2024, and 33 had akin depletion levels to their peers pursuing the alteration successful meter. 

Another 92 customers had depletion levels 30 per cent oregon much higher than the erstwhile year. KPMG recommended that N.B. Power interaction those customers to spot if determination were different factors to assistance explicate the abrupt spike. 

Overall, the reappraisal recovered that determination were 67 cardinal much kWh utilized successful December 2024 than successful December 2023. The pre-tax costs to residential customers were $20 cardinal higher, with astir fractional being owed to higher rates and fractional owed to higher consumption.