New BrunswickN.B. Power is asking for regulatory approval for a 4.75 per cent rate increase to electricity bills next April, a substantial hike but one that would be lower than three years of even larger increases.Increase would cost average home customer another $130 on power bills next yearJacques Poitras · CBC News · Posted: Oct 01, 2025 4:11 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoN.B. Power is asking the Energy and Utilities Board for permission to raise New Brunswick electricity rates by 4.75 per cent next year. (Michael Heenan/CBC)N.B. Power is asking for regulatory approval for a 4.75 per cent rate increase to electricity bills next April, a substantial hike but one that would be lower than three years of even larger increases.The new rate increase, if approved by the Energy and Utilities Board, will add another $130 to the average residential power bill in 2026-2027, based on figures the utility released Wednesday.Even with that hike, CEO Lori Clark said the Crown utility’s $5.7-billion debt will continue to increase in the coming years as it embarks on a series of costly renovations of its major generating stations.Clark told reporters the corporation’s executives talked about seeking a bigger increase but wanted to respect the commitment it made in 2023, when it unveiled a three-year plan with two annual hikes near 10 per cent followed by a lower increase in 2026.”We’re always balancing a multitude of different things in the utility and the impact of rates on customers and affordability is always something that’s front of mind for us,” she said.”We also have to look at ensuring the utility is financially stable now and into the future.”WATCH | ‘Last resort’: N.B. Power seeks rate increase of nearly 5 per cent: N.B. Power wants to raise rates 4.75 per centThe request comes after increases to rates of about 30 per cent over the last three years and as the utility tries to juggle improvements to its most important generating assets. On top of the major increases in the last two years was an additional three per cent charge the utility applied to cover the cost of “variances” — cost overruns that are billed to customers separately to cover unexpected spending in previous years.That additional three per cent is built into the 2026 application again, and the 4.75 per cent increase is on top of that, officials said Wednesday. This rate increase was one that we thought was appropriate for New Brunswick given the review that was underway… We do know the status quo is not an option, and we do see rate increases in the future.— N.B. Power CEO Lori ClarkIn March, Premier Susan Holt signalled her displeasure with rate increases that were pinching New Brunswickers even after her government’s decision to give customers rebates equal to the provincial sales tax on their bills.”It needs to change,” Holt said in the legislature March 26. “The rates can’t keep going like they’re going now, and the status quo cannot continue.”CEO Lori Clark says N.B. Power has to tackle a series of costly renovations at its major generating stations. (Jonathan Collicott/CBC)Clark did not directly answer a question about whether she felt political pressure to keep a lid on this year’s rate increase.She said the utility based its decision in part on the fact that the utility’s future is in question due to a review ordered by Holt that is expected to result in recommendations early next year.”This rate increase was one that we thought was appropriate for New Brunswick given the review that was underway,” Clark said.”We do know the status quo is not an option, and we do see rate increases in the future. So this review will help us determine whether or not the rate increases are appropriate and other options that there may be for helping New Brunswickers as we move forward.”The tentative plan is to increase rates by 6.5 per cent in April 2027 and by 6.5 per cent again in April 2028.Average customer paying 30% more than in 2022The utility had been facing a 2027 target to reduce its debt to 80 per cent of the total value of its assets, which compelled it to seek large increases. But in 2023 the Blaine Higgs government extended that deadline to 2029, and earlier this year the Liberals eliminated it altogether.How electricity rates have become a symbol of New Brunswick’s affordability problemsN.B. Power rates for residential customers are lower than those in most neighbouring jurisdictions, but they have also risen 30 per cent in three years. The escalations are stinging weary consumers, which has the Holt government promising action of some kind, soon. Clark attributed $1.5 billion of N.B. Power’s current $5.7 billion debt to a decade of lower-than-required rate hikes between 2011 and 2022, some the result of government-imposed limits.In a statement, Energy Minister René Legacy did not comment on the amount of the rate increase, calling the utility’s EUB application “a normal process” and a way for customers, industry and others to have a say.”Government will be following the proceedings as they unfold over the months ahead,” he said.The increases this year and last year, plus an earlier increase in 2023, led to customers paying about 30 per cent more now than they were in 2022.The average residential customer is paying $645 per year more this year than three years ago, a reality that has fuelled public anger at a time when other basic necessities like food and housing have been hit by inflation.A Moncton woman collected 45 power bills to investigate higher rates. Here’s what she found.Susan Martin couldn’t believe how many kilowatts her N.B. Power bill said she used compared to last year. After gathering dozens of bills to get to the bottom of it, she found other inconsistencies. Now, with the utility set to release its own audit into the matter in April, Martin wants the province to step in as soon as possible.The 4.75 rate increase is across the board, meaning the utility wants the same hike applied to all rate categories, from residential to industrial customers.Fee proposed for those who refuse smart metersEarlier this year, J.D. Irving Ltd. announced it was permanently closing down half of its production at Irving Paper in Saint John and eliminating 140 positions because of what it considered high power rates.N.B. Power also announced Wednesday it was hiring Laurentis Energy Partners, a subsidiary of Ontario Power Generation, to support its running of the frequently troubled Point Lepreau nuclear generation station.The three-year contract will cost $20 million a year.The utility will also ask the EUB to approve a $4.65 opt-out fee for customers who refuse to have a smart meter installed at their homes to measure their electricity consumption.The power utility in New Brunswick has said it’s looking at even higher rate increases in the years to come, tentatively going up by 6.5 per cent in April 2027 and by another 6.5 per cent in April 2028. (Katelin Belliveau/CBC)Earlier this year, many New Brunswickers theorized that the meters were responsible for apparent spikes in their bills, which N.B. Power said were the result of rate increases, longer billing periods and colder weather than the previous year.The utility had estimated that two per cent of customers would opt out of the smart meters, but in fact four per cent have opted out.The EUB application also seeks a change to the rates charged to customers who install public electric-vehicle chargers, to lower their cost.It asks as well for a change to its “wind balancing charge” to pass on more of the cost of providing back-up baseload power to wind generation.ABOUT THE AUTHORJacques Poitras has been CBC’s provincial affairs reporter in New Brunswick since 2000. He grew up in Moncton and covered Parliament in Ottawa for the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal. He has reported on every New Brunswick election since 1995 and won awards from the Radio Television Digital News Association, the National Newspaper Awards and Amnesty International. He is also the author of five non-fiction books about New Brunswick politics and history.
N.B. Power seeking across-the-board rate hike of 4.75 per cent in 2026
