STATEMENT FROM PETER GREGG, PRESIDENT AND CEO, NOVA SCOTIA POWER

Today’s announcement by the Government of Nova Scotia poses serious risks to our ability to continue to serve our customers reliably and prepare for Nova Scotia’s future energy needs.

Customers count on us to deliver reliable electricity, every day. It’s why we work to strengthen our system across the province and why we work to restore power safely and as quickly as possible after storms like Hurricane Fiona.

The local and global economy have been faced with many challenges since we filed our general rate application (GRA) earlier this year. We know many Nova Scotians are facing difficult times because of these pressures and we’re sensitive to the impact of any increase in electricity rates. We have a responsibility to manage costs and keep power bills as low as possible. This is why our team of more than 2,000 Nova Scotians works to ensure we’re operating as efficiently and effectively as possible– a focus that has enabled us to avoid an increase in non-fuel power rates for the last 10 years despite rising operational costs over that time.

As an electric utility with strong regulatory oversight, we’re disappointed and concerned that the Government of Nova Scotia would use legislation to override what is meant to be a politically independent process.

As part of our rate application, we requested over $500 million to strengthen our energy infrastructure and fund 60 new front-line jobs directly related to reliability. Today’s proposed legislation limits this planned investment and the amount of storm preparedness and system hardening we can do in the province. As recent storms including Hurricane Fiona have made clear, severe storms will keep coming. Putting off these critical investments until later is not a solution.

This proposed legislation would impede our ability to meet targets set by the Province to reach 80% renewable energy and be off coal by 2030. We’ve been focused on meeting these targets because they’re critical to building a sustainable energy future. But we can’t meet them without making the investments needed to get there.

As we work over the coming days and weeks to fully understand the impacts of this proposed legislation, our team of dedicated Nova Scotians remains committed to delivering safe, reliable and cleaner energy to our customers. Serving our customers will always be our focus, despite the constraints imposed by this proposed legislation.