Moncton woman wants accountability from premier, N.B. Power over sky-high electric bills
CBC
When Susan Martin checked the latest power bill for a small home she rents out in Moncton, she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
According to N.B. Power, the home consumed 1,700 kilowatts of energy in February of last year, she said.
This February, it was more than triple that amount — closer to 5,200 kilowatts.
Martin's concerns come as N.B. Power is conducting a third-party audit of its smart-meter program, billing system and complaints of high power bills.
"Those are unexplainable variances," said Martin, of the recent bill for her property.
She said in 2024, a family of three were living in the home and did laundry everyday. This year, a single woman is renting the place and does laundry far less regularly.
"I don't know how malicious it is, but I do know there is an issue with the way the meters read and calculate our kilowatt usage related to inflated bills."
Martin said it raises doubt that inflation, longer billing periods, rate hikes and colder winters are to blame for the higher power bills many New Brunswickers are seeing.
She believes it's all about skyrocketing consumption readings.
N.B. Power CEO Lori Clarke promised the results of a third-party audit at the end of February, but later said the utility needed more time, and that of the 20 bills reviewed so far, there were no issues. She said the report wouldn't be ready until April.
Martin is surprised it's taking so long for the utility to collect and review utility bills because it took her just 12 hours to collect about 45 bills from residential customers, after she posted about it on Facebook.
She accumulated about 30 from people who had been switched to the utility's new smart-meter system, and most of those showed double the kilowatt usage in February compared to the previous year.
One statement showed a jump from 599 kilowatts to 1,542, while another showed a more than 1,200 kilowatt increase, from 3,019 to 4,245.
Martin said the bills she collected from people who have not made the change to a smart meter tell a different story.
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