N.S. Power fined again for failing to meet performance standards
CBC
Nova Scotia Power is facing a $1.25-million penalty for failing to meet its 2023 performance standards.
The Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board announced the fine in a written decision released Monday morning.
The board noted that Nova Scotia Power has taken some steps to improve service reliability for its customers, but overall it said progress "has been lagging."
"More needs to be done and with greater urgency," the board said.
Nova Scotia Power is not allowed to recover the cost of the penalty from ratepayers. Rather, the penalty is to be credited to customers through a mechanism used to adjust power rates, no later than the end of October.
This is the seventh consecutive year Nova Scotia Power has failed to meet the performance standards set by the regulator, and the fourth time it's been fined.
It faced a $250,000 fine for failing to meet 2019 performance standards; $375,000 for 2021; and $750,000 for 2022.
There were 14 performance standards laid out for Nova Scotia Power last year, and it met 11 of them.
Two of the missed targets relate to reliability. The average power outage for 2023 was longer, and the average number of outages per customer was higher than it should have been.
The other missed target was for how long it took to connect new customers.
In addition to the penalty, the board ordered the utility to file a comprehensive written version of its five-year reliability plan by the end of this year.
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