Nova ScotiaMore than six months after a cybersecurity attack against Nova Scotia Power led to the breach of personal information from hundreds of thousands of customers and temporarily shut down the utility’s billing system, some of those affected by the attack say they’re still being overbilled each month. Utility says it’s still recovering from cybersecurity attack earlier this year Andrew Sampson · CBC News · Posted: Nov 14, 2025 1:54 PM EST | Last Updated: 3 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Nova Scotia Power has said estimates are based on an average of a property’s previous energy consumption during ‘a similar time of year.’ (Mark Crosby/CBC)More than six months after a cybersecurity attack compromised the personal information of hundreds of thousands of Nova Scotia Power customers and temporarily shut down the utility’s billing system, some of those affected by the attack say they’re still being overbilled each month. “My most recent bill I received last week, and it’s due Dec. 8, and it was for $1,028.35,” Mike Kennedy, who lives in Broad Cove, N.S., said in an interview with CBC Radio’s Information Morning Nova Scotia this week.“Last year [during that same period] was $535.44, so that made absolutely no sense to me.” After Nova Scotia Power discovered the attack on April 25, it temporarily paused billing and suspended its online customer service platform while it determined the extent of the breach, which began in March. When billing resumed in June, the utility said it wasn’t able to retrieve usage information from individual power meters and would need to estimate usage for each customer while it worked to fully restore its systems. Those estimates, Nova Scotia Power has said, are “based on an average of the previous energy used at your property during a similar time of year” — which the discrepancy between Kennedy’s 2024 and 2025 bills would seem to contradict. After sharing his experience on Facebook, his post received over 200 comments, with many sharing similar stories.When Kennedy contacted the utility, he said he was told to take a photo of his meter to compare with Nova Scotia Power’s estimate. The result, he said, was lower than his estimate from the company. He said he’s refused to pay his December bill until the company gets back to him with a more accurate number. “It’s the time of year where people don’t really want to be paying double what the amount actually is,” he said. “We need some transparency.”On Friday, Chris Lanteigne, the director of customer care for Nova Scotia Power, said the company has not been charging late fees or interest on bills since April. Until further notice, he said, credit ratings also won’t be impacted if customers don’t pay their bills.”Right now, there aren’t consequences for not paying,” he said. “That said, we are encouraging customers to keep making payments because what we want to help them avoid is that balance … getting large.”Workers manually checking meters, says utilityIt’s not the first time customers have complained about inaccurate billing since the breach.In the wake of customer complaints in July, Nova Scotia Power said it was sending workers out to manually check power meters at homes to ensure billing was accurate.Chris Lanteigne, the director of customer care for Nova Scotia Power, says the company is working hard to restore trust following the cybersecurity attack. (Dave Laughlin/CBC)Lanteigne said the company has hired 100 workers to go out into the field to read meters, a project that has covered 75 per cent of the estimated 530,000 in the province. Once meter information has been accessed, he said, the utility will retroactively adjust bills to reflect the customer’s actual usage.”We do know that there are some customers who have experienced concerns with their bills and we’re definitely here to help them out,” Lanteigne said. Though some people have complained of long wait times, he said the company has hired 40 more customer service representatives to better respond to customers.Lanteigne said Nova Scotia Power estimates the ability of usage meters to transmit data will be restored early next year. Customers still being informed of breachSome Nova Scotia Power customers are still receiving notification their data may have been breached in the cyberattack. “I can’t understand with an organization that has the resources of Nova Scotia Power … the financial resources, the people resources, the technical expertise, that it’s taken seven months to learn about this,” said Gary Moore, who got a letter Wednesday that was dated Oct. 31 informing him his data could be compromised. “It’s pathetic, actually, and disconcerting.” In an email statement to CBC News this week, Nova Scotia Power acknowledged it may continue to identify customers whose data was compromised as the company continues its investigation. “Our teams are committed to ensuring no stone is left unturned in the investigation and that all impacted customers are notified and provided with the opportunity to sign up for free credit monitoring,” it said. MORE TOP STORIES
Are you being overbilled by Nova Scotia Power? Some say usage estimates have been off since data breach
