NDP slams Nova Scotia Power’s bid for 10 per cent rate hike

The NDP has denounced Nova Scotia Power’s application to the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board, saying that people can’t afford changes to electricity rates at times like this. 

Nova Scotia Power applied to the UARB earlier this week for a 10 per cent hike in electricity rates over the next three years, along with a request to defer the costs of phasing out the use of coal energy by 2030. 

NDP MLA Claudia Chender criticized the application in a release on Friday. 

“Considering the unreliability of the grid and the frequent power outages experienced by Nova Scotians, especially in stormy weather like we are expecting this weekend, asking people to pay 10 per cent more over the next three years is shocking,” she said. 

“People in our province cannot afford this at a time when costs like housing and food are rising so rapidly.” 

Nova Scotia Power’s application also included a proposal that customers who generate their own power from solar or wind sources and sell it will need to pay a fee. 

To this, Chandler said, “The proposed changes to the solar program will threaten the viability of the green energy sector’s future in Nova Scotia. Creating barriers to renewable energy generation will directly impact the people and small businesses throughout the province that have been doing this important work.” 

She urged Nova Scotians to tell the Houston government and the UARB that Nova Scotia Power’s plan needs to be “more about protecting people, not protecting corporate profits.”