Big jump in power bills may be explained when N.B. Power boss appears before MLAs
CBC
N.B. Power customers who saw large increases on their last bills may find out why when the head of the Crown corporation appears before MLAs later this month.
The legislature's public accounts committee has posted notice of a meeting Feb. 27 to review an assessment of residential operations, as well as its latest annual report and part of a December report by the auditor general.
N.B. Power president and CEO Lori Clark is scheduled to appear.
The provincial government, the only shareholder in the utility, asked N.B. Power on Jan. 21 to conduct an independent audit after widespread complaints from customers about increases in their power consumption and bills that seemed inexplicably high.
Amanda Nelson is one of the customers convinced something went wrong.
According to N.B. Power, her 1,500-square-foot, split-level home used more than 6,055 kWh of electricity over a 38-day billing period ending Jan. 30.
The house has two heat pumps and three electric heaters, she said, but is primarily heated by two wood stoves.
"I work from home, so I can keep the fire going all day."
Looking back two years, Nelson said, her next highest usage was 3,754 kWh over 33 days ending March 27, 2022.
"We have done nothing to warrant a spike like this," she said.
Nelson said that after a long conversation with an N.B. Power customer service agent she was told her old power meter, which was swapped out in December, had a serial number similar to others that were being investigated.
"Whatever the issue it needs to be resolved, and then they have to credit anybody that they've already billed," she said.
There was evidence at a previous Energy and Utilities Board hearing that some old meters could be underreporting consumption by up to 20 per cent as they aged.
If that's part of the issue, Nelson said, more should have been done to brace customers for the impact.
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