Nova ScotiaNova Scotia Power applied this week to change power rates for all its customers. That means raising rates for some while dropping them for others.Utility says it’s trying to strike balance between reliability, affordabilityTaryn Grant · CBC News · Posted: Sep 19, 2025 10:31 AM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours agoNova Scotia Power applied to the Nova Scotia Energy Board this week for power rate changes. (Robert Short/CBC)Nova Scotia Power applied this week to change power rates for all its customers. That means raising rates for some while dropping them for others.Those and other details are included in documents filed with the Nova Scotia Energy Board this week. The utility announced earlier this month that a rate application was coming. It indicated rates would be going up for residential customers, but it did not say what the changes would be for other customers. The application shows the utility is looking to raise the standard residential rate by 3.8 per cent in 2026 and 4.1 per cent in 2027.While residential customers are the most numerous, the utility has a dozen other customer classifications, which cover retail businesses, schools, hospitals, office buildings, farms, factories and more.Under the proposal, small commercial customers and municipalities would see two consecutive increases. Large commercial customers and some industrial customers would see two consecutive decreases. Two classes would see a decrease one year and an increase the other. Read Nova Scotia Power’s rate application The average across all customers would be a 1.8 per cent increase in 2026 and a 2.4 per cent increase in 2027.The rate changes don’t include costs related to the cybersecurity attack that happened earlier this year, the application says.In addition to the main application, the utility filed thousands of pages of supporting documents, some of which are redacted or confidential, available only for board members to see, including a document with executive compensation.The justificationNova Scotia Power told the board it needs to raise power rates for the next two years to improve services for customers while also protecting its own financial standing.Nova Scotia Power says it needs to raise rates to improve services for customers, and protect its financial health as a publicly traded company. (Robert Short/CBC)The utility said it’s trying “to strengthen system reliability, build resilience against increasingly volatile and extreme weather, and to support Nova Scotia’s economic development and the government’s decarbonization goals.”At the same time, the publicly traded utility said it must continue to turn a profit and try to improve its credit rating, which has taken some blows in recent years.The application notes that a consultant told Nova Scotia Power it would be wise to increase its return on equity from nine per cent to 9.9, and raise its equity ratio from 40 per cent to 45 per cent. But the utility isn’t pursuing that, at least not at this time.”Despite this evidence, NS Power is aware of the need to balance affordability for customers with the financial health of the utility,” it said. Customer representatives signed offNova Scotia Power developed the proposal through an “extensive collaborative process” that included technical conferences and meetings with customer representatives, the application says. The representatives include the consumer advocate, small business advocate, and counsel for the industrial group that includes 10 businesses, Michelin and Irving among them.Nova Scotia Power wants to implement the first rate change on Jan. 1, 2026, but the energy board doubts a decision will come by then. (Paul Poirier/CBC)”Hundreds of detailed questions and requests for additional information from Customer Representatives were responded to by NS Power, and the Parties participated in multiple meetings where the GRA was negotiated, with the result being a consensus on the outcomes,” the application says.How and when it’s decidedIn the absence of a settlement agreement, those detailed questions from the customer representatives would have occurred after the application was made. Nova Scotia Power told the board it is hoping the settlement agreement will expedite things so that a decision can be made by the end of the year. The utility wants to implement the first round of rate changes on Jan. 1, 2026.The clerk of the board said “it seems doubtful” that the deadline will be reached.In a letter to Nova Scotia Power, Crystal Henwood said the settlement agreement “will likely reduce the volume” of correspondence involved, but “those usual processes cannot be eliminated.”The board and other interested parties, including interveners, will still have a chance to review the application and put their questions to Nova Scotia Power. A public hearing is also likely to take place.The provincial government has indicated it intends to intervene and make arguments against rate increases. ABOUT THE AUTHORTaryn Grant covers daily news for CBC Nova Scotia, with a particular interest in housing and homelessness, education, and health care. You can email her with tips and feedback at taryn.grant@cbc.ca
Nova Scotia Power wants to raise rates for some customers, drop rates for others
