Nova Scotia Power defends pace of going green at rate increase hearing
CBC
During the second day of hearings into Nova Scotia Power's rate increase hearing, the company brushed aside suggestions that it was slow to move away from its reliance on coal and other fossil fuels to generate electricity.
Greening the grid is a big part of the company's application to raise rates by 11.6 per cent, currently before the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board (UARB). The utility states it will cost hundreds of millions of dollars to shut down coal plants, add wind power and improve transmission lines.
To pay for it, the application includes the creation of a so-called "decarbonization deferral account" (DDA) that would collect money to add renewables and write off coal plant shutdowns before the end of their useful life.
Ratepayers would be asked to pay down the costs in future rate cases.
In its messaging, Nova Scotia Power has repeatedly referred to provincial legislation as a driver in its decision to raise rates. The law passed in 2021 requires it to close its coal plants and produce 80 per cent of electricity from renewable sources.
A lawyer for the provincial government challenged that narrative Tuesday.
"The federal government in 2016 was signalling the end of coal-fired generation by 2030," said Daniel Boyle, a lawyer representing the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables.
Boyle referred to the joint federal and provincial Pan Canadian Plan to Address Climate Change, published in 2016.
The government document noted the federal government announced in November 2016 that it would amend existing coal-fired electricity regulations to "accelerate the phase out of traditional coal-fired electricity by 2030."
"The intention of the questioning is to say that there were options available that could have, should have, could have been pursued which may have offered a plan that could have done away with the need for DDA at this time," Boyle told the UARB.
Nova Scotia Power president Peter Gregg, who joined the company in 2020, said six years ago it still had a deal to defer closing coal plants.
"At this time, there was an equivalency agreement in place with the province of Nova Scotia that would seek to eliminate coal from our resource mix by 2040 and not the 2030 date here," he said. "We knew directionally the federal government was signaling that would be there, but we did have that equivalency agreement in place."
Gregg said Nova Scotia Power has been "on the decarbonization journey" since 2005 and repeated company messaging that it is balancing reducing emissions with affordability.
At the beginning of Tuesday's hearing, Nova Scotia Power lawyer Blake Williams announced a settlement has been reached with telecom companies fighting the company's request to nearly triple the fees it charges to use its power poles.
Run 3 Space | Play Space Running Game
Traffic Jam 3D | Online Racing Game
Duck Hunt | Play Old Classic Game
A suspended Moncton structural engineer faces more lawsuits alleging design flaws in buildings that require repair.
Sajjade Tugano has come a long way since he first set foot in Chibougamau, six hours north of Quebec City, in the depths of winter in November 2021.
A national mentor-based hockey organization that helps marginalized youth through the sport is paying tribute to one of its members and youngest coaches.
After months of asking the City of Saskatoon to do more to solve its homelessness crisis, advocate David Fineday took to the stand at city council Tuesday.
A community organization wants to breathe new life into a historic building in Regina.
Some Prince County residents are walking away with more answers after attending Tuesday night's public information session in Albany, P.E.I., on the Wejipek Wind Project.
After just a few months of using vape detectors in a couple of bathrooms, a B.C. high school principal says it's reduced vape use in those areas to basically zero.
Burlington MP Karina Gould gets boost from local young people after entering Liberal leadership race
A day after entering the Liberal leadership race, Burlington, Ont., MP and government House leader Karina Gould was cheered at a campaign launch party by local residents — including young people expressing hope the 37-year-old politician will represent their voices.
Anold Mulaisho was born intersex and wonders where they fit in, in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order for the United States to recognize only two sexes, male and female.
WARNING: This story contains references to suicide.
Subway service is down on Line 1 between Sheppard West and Lawrence West due to a broken power rail, the TTC said Wednesday morning.
A long-term care home in Toronto's Yorkville neighbourhood has cleared one more hurdle to add desperately needed beds to its property, a move that's been praised by housing advocates but opposed by locals concerned about the impact on the neighbourhood.
A Charlottetown resident is calling on the P.E.I. government to do more to protect homeowners after reading about a recent oil spill very similar to one on his Montague property 20 years ago, which he says ruined him financially.
WARNING: This story includes details of abuse.
Two years after Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly declared she was taking the unprecedented step of moving to confiscate millions of dollars from a sanctioned Russian oligarch with assets in Canada, the government has not actually begun the court process to forfeit the money, let alone to hand it over to Ukrainian reconstruction — and it may never happen.
Alberta business and oilpatch leaders are returning home from Washington this week after the U.S. presidential inauguration festivities — and gritting their teeth after a roller-coaster of emotions.
Youth workers in Toronto's Jane and Finch area are flipping the script on negative stereotypes about their communities with a new fundraising campaign that offers anti-bias training in exchange for donations to bolster their programming.
In a sudden move that came late Tuesday evening, city officials rolled out cots and temporarily opened a warm building in east London as frigid temperatures continued.