Nova Scotia Power fined $750,000 for failing to meet performance standards

Nova Scotia Power has been fined $750,000 for failing to meet grid reliability and customer services targets in 2022.

The power corporation is required to submit annual performance standards reports to the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board covering the number/length of power outages, its reaction time restoring power after weather events, its call centre’s speed in answering customers and how long it takes to install poles and power service when they are ordered.

 The power corporation was fined $375,000 for failing to meet targets in 2021 and $250,000 for 2019.

Nova Scotia Power has failed to meet some of the performance standards metrics each year since they came into effect in 2016.

“Customers are entitled to receive an appropriate level of service for the rates and fees they are charged by the utility,” reads the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board notice about the latest fine.

“It is not acceptable that non-compliance of the performance standards has become a normal occurrence.”

In its submission to the Utility and Review Board, Nova Scotia Power pointed to the increasing severity of storms with climate change, and its investments to firm up the grid.

It also pointed out that after storms such as post-tropical storm Fiona, it worked with emergency management officials to quickly restore power to critical infrastructure. Nova Scotia Power submissions said that this response, which was appropriate, caused delays in meeting targets for restoring power to homeowners.

“While these are relevant circumstances, the Board also recognizes that one of the consequences of our urgent need to rapidly decarbonize, in the effort to stave off even more dire climatic changes, is an increasing trend towards electrification,” responded the Utility and Review Board.

“This means that despite the changing climate, the need for a reliable electrical grid is at least as important (and likely more important) than ever. If more frequent and damaging storms are becoming the ‘new normal,’ NS Power needs to ensure that its performance, not just its investment plans, keeps up with these changes.”