Former utility exec says NB Power’s proposed gas plant is 20 years out of date

Posted on February 11, 2026 by brucewark

Former utility manager Tim Hicks

A former senior manager with one of the largest electricity companies in the U.S. says NB Power should not be pushing a 500 MW gas plant as a solution to its energy needs.

“There are ideas for the environment that are better than building a gas, obviously carbon-based combustion power plant,” Tim Hicks said during a presentation to Tantramar Town Council on Tuesday.

“I worked as a senior manager for Southern California Edison in grid modernization. I gained a lot of knowledge there. I’d like to share a little bit of that with you,” he said.

Hicks returned home to Sackville three years ago after spending many years out of the country. He joined the local group Seniors for Climate Change – Tantramar after learning about the proposed gas plant on the Chignecto Isthmus.

He told council there are better solutions to meeting energy needs including what’s known as “time-of-use” or “time of day” power rates that would encourage NB Power customers to save money by shifting some of their electricity consumption to times when there’s less demand on the grid.

“At night, there’s very little power consumption,” he said, adding that about 20 years ago, for example, utilities in Ontario and California introduced cheaper, variable rates to encourage customers to run appliances such as dishwashers or clothes dryers during the night-time hours or very early in the morning.

“Typically, between 4 and 9 in the evening is when everybody’s consuming power,” he explained, and rates then could be more expensive, something like 28 cents per kilowatt hour while rates from 7 a.m. until 4 p.m. could be around 15 to 18 cents.

The real savings could come during the night-time hours (9 p.m. to 7 a.m) when he said NB Power could charge only six cents per kilowatt hour.

NB Power out of date

Smart meter. Photo: NB Power

“My question is why is it acceptable for NB Power to be more than 20 years or almost 20 years behind in this technology, in this simple solution and now they’re rushing to build a power plant,” he said.

Hicks said he understands why New Brunswickers are reluctant to sign up for the so-called “smart meters” that are needed to implement “time of use” pricing.

“There is a history of blunder after blunder after blunder and I can understand why the public has not trusted NB Power and maybe why they’ve delayed this because they oppose smart meters because they don’t trust NB Power to implement properly,” he said.

“An electric company has a monopoly. They own the wires and they own the towers,” he added, pointing to a conflict-of-interest when utilities generate and sell their own power.

“In California, they removed the power production from the business of providing electricity. They removed that conflict of interest, plus they incentivized power production to be green.”

Council support

Councillor Allison Butcher

“I think you’re kind of preaching to the choir here,” said Allison Butcher, one of several members of council who thanked Hicks for his presentation.

“We hear you. We are with you,” she said, adding that sometimes the town feels powerless to influence NB Power and the province.

“Unfortunately, as a municipal government, we have said we don’t agree with it [the gas plant], but I’m not sure it matters to them.

“So, I thank you for continuing to beat the drum.”

NB Power Plan

Meantime, St. Thomas University Economic Professor Andrew Secord asked NB Power about introducing “time of use” rates during this week’s Energy & Utilities Board hearings in Moncton.

Vice President Brad Coady replied those rates could come “as early as April 1, 2028,” but he cautioned it would depend on several factors including EUB rulings on how electricity rates are designed and the time that would be needed to educate customers.

Posted in NB Power, Town of Tantramar | Tagged , | 1 Comment

NB Power reluctant to say how much Isthmus gas plant would cost as EUB hearings begin

Posted on February 9, 2026 by brucewark

Demonstration organized by Action Cap-Acadie outside EUB hearings in Moncton. Photo: Juliette Bulmer

About 20 demonstrators chanting, “Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho, the gas plant has got to go,” marched outside the Moncton hotel today where the Energy & Utilities Board was about  to open five days of hearings on NB Power’s plans for a 500 MW generating plant on the Chignecto Isthmus.

The demonstration was organized by Action Cap-Acadie which had invited everyone to “stand with us to protect our land, our health, and a clean-energy future.”

After the hearings began, various interveners spent the day quizzing five NB Power executives about their proposal to pay an American company to build, operate and eventually decommission the gas/diesel plant in Tantramar.

NB Power panel was cross-examined by interveners during the 1st day of hearings. L-R: Kevin Wright, Jordan Russell, Brad Coady, Darren Clark, Jonathan Pollock

St. Thomas University Economics Professor Andrew Secord asked the NB Power executives for a “ballpark figure” on what the gas plant would cost the utility over its projected 25-year lifespan.

NB Power Vice President Brad Coady seemed reluctant to answer.

“We’re not the builder of the project, we’re not the owner of the project, so we don’t know the full capital cost,” he said, suggesting nevertheless that NB Power did have “a good line of sight” on what it might cost every year.

“We do think it’s a significant amount of money, if I could say it that way,” he added.

EUB Chair Christopher Stewart

“I’m not sure you answered Dr. Secord’s question,” EUB Chair Christopher Stewart said. “I think he was asking if you could give him some kind of ballpark number.”

“We can’t say on the record what it would cost us per year,” Coady answered, finally adding that over its lifespan, the capital cost of the plant would amount to more than a billion dollars.

He said NB Power would also have to cover the U.S. company’s operating and financing costs including return on equity and return on debt, plus any insurances.”

Although Coady didn’t mention it at today’s hearing, NB Power would also be required to cover the costs of burning diesel fuel and imported natural gas.

Dramatic exchange

PCIC Intervener Chris Rouse

Chris Rouse, intervener for the Protect the Chignecto Isthmus Coalition questioned the NB Power panel about their contention that 400 MW from the gas plant would be used to generate electricity that is needed in New Brunswick, with an additional 100 MW for sale to Nova Scotia.

New Brunswick’s 400 MW would be generated by eight gas turbines (8 units) with two additional ones (2 units) generating power for Nova Scotia. (Each unit would generate 50 MW: 8 x 50= 400 MW; 2 x 50 = 100 MW).

Brad Coady repeated today what he has said at various public meetings: The province could run short of power unless it gets that 400 MW from the proposed gas plant.

But Rouse pointed to a chart from an NB Power document that appears to show half of the 400 MW could be exported undermining NB Power’s claim that without that power, New Brunswickers could face rolling blackouts starting in 2028.

NB Power chart with the financial details blacked out

Coady responded that the table was created to show various ways of thinking about how NB Power could lower the cost of satisfying the province’s need for 400 MW.

“Just to make sure there is no confusion in the room, there is now only one expansion toll agreement, one contract for offtake with our neighbours,” he said referring to the tentative export deal with Nova Scotia for 100 MW.

“But the table says four units for in-province,” Rouse responded. “You just told us at the very beginning that this 400 MW was for in-province. This table is only showing 200 MW for in-province.”

“Again, just to make sure there’s no confusion, this was just two options,” Coady answered.

“NB Power’s thinking never deviated from about 400 megawatts, or in this case, eight-unit option for a total of 376 megawatts net to the system. That’s been our base-case-thinking all along,” he said.

The EUB hearings continue Tuesday at the Delta Beauséjour in Moncton starting at 9 a.m.

For Erica Butler’s, CBC coverage, click here.

Posted in NB Power, Town of Tantramar | Tagged , | 2 Comments

130 scientists & academics call on Premier Holt to suspend proposed 500 MW gas plant

Posted on February 8, 2026 by brucewark

Susan O’Donnell. Photo: NB Media Co-op

Energy activist and Adjunct Research Professor Susan O’Donnell says NB Power’s proposal to burn more fossil fuels shows it’s stuck in the dinosaur age.

“It’s like NB Power management are lumbering along in an alternative universe where’s there’s no climate crisis,” she writes in an e-mail to Warktimes.

O’Donnell was commenting on a letter signed by 130 New Brunswick scientists and professors asking Premier Holt to suspend NB Power’s proposed gas/diesel generating plant on the Chignecto Isthmus.

O’Donnell helped organize and circulate the letter calling on Holt to ask NB Power to issue tenders for an electricity battery storage project instead and redirect investments to renewable sources and energy efficiency.

Among other things, the letter points out that the gas/diesel plant would be built and operated by the Missouri-based company PROENERGY at a time when Canada should be reducing its dependence on the United States.

It also warns that the project would make New Brunswick dependent on fluctuating prices for shale gas piped in from the U.S.

The letter says that the gas plant would threaten human health as well as the health of 165 rare or protected animal species while emitting an additional 900,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.

In her e-mail, O’Donnell disputes NB Power’s claim that it will run short of power by 2028 because of population growth.

“Planned data centres are driving growth projections,” she writes.

“We need to be talking as a province about what kinds of industrial and community development we want that respect the limits of a finite planet and ensure a sustainable future.”

To read the letter to Premier Holt and the names of those who signed it, click here.

Posted in climate change, Mount Allison University, NB Power, Town of Tantramar | Tagged | 13 Comments

EUB accepts NB Power’s new evidence; hearings begin as scheduled next week

Posted on February 6, 2026 by brucewark

EUB Chair Christopher Stewart

The New Brunswick Energy & Utilities Board is allowing NB Power to submit additional evidence about its deal with Nova Scotia to sell 100 MW from its proposed 500 MW gas/diesel generating plant near Centre Village.

Board Chair Christoper Stewart made his ruling to accept the new evidence after an online hearing on Friday that lasted more than 90-minutes.

“This situation is not ideal,” Stewart said, “but we must deal with matters as they emerge.”

He was referring to NB Power’s decision to submit the additional evidence one week before EUB hearings were set to begin in Moncton.

The EUB must decide whether the gas plant would be a prudent investment for the public utility and whether it would be needed to avoid electricity shortages beginning in 2028.

Stewart said those hearings will be held next week in Moncton as planned, but the EUB will give any interveners a couple of extra days at some later date if they request additional time to deal with the new evidence.

Public Intervener Alain Chiasson had argued during Friday’s hearing that it would be unfair to allow NB Power to introduce its new evidence next week.

Chiasson, who will be opposing the proposed gas plant, said he and his experts would not have time to analyze and question the “hundreds of pages of new, complicated evidence.”

In his ruling, however, Board Chair Stewart suggested that all intervening parties could have expected the additional evidence. NB Power indicated in its original filings that it was looking for a customer to buy 100 MW from the plant.

Documents show it now has a tentative 10-year deal to sell that electricity to Nova Scotia’s Independent Energy System Operator.

The EUB hearings are set to begin at 9:30 a.m. on Monday at the Delta Beauséjour in Moncton.

To read a summary of NB Power’s new evidence, click here.

Posted in NB Power, Town of Tantramar | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Tantramar councillors concerned about height of snowbanks in downtown Sackville

Posted on February 5, 2026 by brucewark

Councillor Barry Hicks

Several members of Tantramar Town Council expressed concern about the timely removal of snowbanks in downtown Sackville on Monday during a 20-minute discussion of public works standards for clearing snow and ice.

Council members were responding to Town Engineer Jon Eppell who said curb side snowbanks more than 18 inches high are removed about 72 hours or three days after a storm has ended.

Councillor Barry Hicks, Sackville’s former superintendent of public works, suggested snowbanks should be removed long before they reach that height.

“Passengers cannot get the door open or exit the vehicle with an 18-inch snowbank and when you add in the six-inch rise of the curb, it brings it to 24-inches,” he said.

“It is impossible for persons with mobility issues, senior citizens, parents with babies or small children to exit their vehicles in the downtown core with snowbanks that high,” Hicks said, adding that people are forced to walk into traffic to get to a pathway cleared by a downtown business.

“This is a safety issue for everyone,” he said.

Age friendly

Councillor Bruce Phinney

Councillor Bruce Phinney agreed, suggesting that snow-clearing standards have changed over the years.

“There has not been a direction to change anything,” Eppell responded. “I’m not aware that this is different from what used to be done.”

“Well, it seems that things are not getting done very fast then,” Phinney said, adding that he cleared snow at Mount Allison University for almost 40 years.

He said he now has a problem getting over snowbanks in downtown Sackville.

“And, if we’re an age-friendly community, we need to put in place what’s needed for the seniors,” he said.

‘High standard’

Mayor Andrew Black said that during his 10 years on council, snow removal has been a recurring concern.

“Every single year we have complaints about how the snow is removed or not removed,” he said, adding that some winters are worse than others.

“I would also say that when you have such a high standard of snow removal, like I believe we do in Tantramar, any slight slip makes it look like it’s highly catastrophic,” Black said.

“I do want to highlight that we are pretty fortunate with the snow removal that we do have here.”

Councillor Josh Goguen

Councillor Josh Goguen said he also agreed with Councillor Hicks because of his experience picking up his spouse who works downtown.

“She’s fallen quite a few times trying to get over the snowbanks or I’ve had to pull out and try to get to one of the clearings so she could get in.”

Councillor Michael Tower said children sometimes have a hard time getting to school because of high snowbanks, but said later he gets a lot of comments from people who are happy that the main roads are plowed before they go to work.

“So you have to take the good with the bad and we get an awful lot of good,” he said.

To read Town Engineer Jon Eppell’s written presentation to council on snow and ice clearing standards, click here.

For information on the latest proposal to get an age-friendly community designation for Tantramar from the province, click here.

Posted in Town of Tantramar | Tagged , | 2 Comments

UPDATE: Nova Scotia signs up to buy power from Tantramar gas plant

Posted on February 3, 2026 by brucewark

PCIC’s Barry Rothfuss interviewed by CBC reporter Erica Butler

This article was updated on February 4, 2026 to include NB Power’s responses to a series of questions. (See below)

Members of the Protect the Chignecto Isthmus Coalition (PCIC) are reacting with anger and disbelief after NB Power filed new documents yesterday outlining significant changes to its plans for a 500 MW gas/diesel plant near Centre Village.

“They’re throwing a wrench into the whole process,” says PCIC co-founder Barry Rothfuss.

He was referring to Energy & Utilities Board (EUB) hearings on the gas plant project that were set to begin next week.

“They have not been transparent in any of this,” Rothfuss says, adding that NB Power argued it needed EUB approval for the project by April 2nd or the American company PROENERGY and its subsidiary WattBridge would cancel the contract to supply, install and operate 8-10 gas turbines for 25 years.

NB Power’s newly filed documents reveal that its board of directors approved a new June 2nd deadline in mid-December. And three months before that, the board authorized management to enter into an agreement to sell 100 MW of electricity from the gas plant to Nova Scotia.

“I always had the feeling this artificial deadline of April 2nd was nonsense,” Rothfuss says.

He adds that he suspects NB Power filed the documents showing the sale of power to Nova Scotia as a way of persuading the EUB that the gas plant makes financial sense.

“These are the games that they’re playing with the numbers,” he says. “I think they realized their numbers didn’t add up.”

NS deal

The heavily redacted or blacked out documents appear to outline amendments to the contract with the U.S. company PROENERGY/WattBridge for the building, installation and operation of  10 gas turbines — eight to supply 400 MW to NB Power and now, two more to produce 100 MW for Nova Scotia’s Independent Energy System Operator (IESO).

The non-profit IESO announced yesterday it had signed a “term sheet” that would give Nova Scotia an option to buy 100 MW from the Centre Village gas plant for a 10-year term once a final agreement is reached.

Meantime, the EUB has now removed the new NB Power documents from its website because they were filed after the deadline to submit evidence.

It will now be up to NB Power to file a motion by noon on Thursday asking the EUB for permission to file its additional evidence.

If it does that, the EUB will hold a hearing on Friday morning that would allow interveners to comment. If the EUB does allow the utility to file additional evidence, next week’s hearings could be delayed to give other parties, such as the public intervener, the Conservation Council of New Brunswick and the Protect the Chignecto Isthmus Coalition, time to prepare their responses.

NB Power responds

Warktimes e-mailed a series of questions to NB Power on February 3rd. NB Power responded on February 4th. Questions are in bold type with NB Power’s answers in italics:

1. Why is NB Power filing these documents less than a week before EUB hearings were set to begin on February 9th?

The Renewables Integration and Grid Security (RIGS) Project was always a 500 MW project, and the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) identified it as such. In documents supplied to the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board (NBEUB) in October we indicated a partnership opportunity with a third party was being pursued, and we only recently reached an agreement with IESO Nova Scotia.

2.  How does NB Power respond to the Protect the Chignecto Isthmus Coalition (PCIC), which is an intervener in the EUB hearings, when it calls this “a non-transparent, last-minute attempt to keep the proposed RIGS gas plant approval afloat — at the expense of fairness, due process, and public accountability?”

The hearing is an important part of the independent regulatory process, and next week we will be answering questions from interested parties. NB Power will continue to respect the regulatory process, and the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board’s (NBEUB) commitment to ensuring a fair process is followed to determine the rates New Brunswickers pay for power. 

We welcome the opportunity to explain the business case to support the development of this essential project in an open and transparent forum. These agreements do not change the 500 MW project that was filed with the NBEUB.

3. How does NB Power respond to PCIC’s claim that the NB Power filing came after the EUB processes were complete rather than being disclosed openly and in a timely manner?

The Renewables Integration and Grid Security (RIGS) Project was always a 500 MW project, and the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) identified it as such. In documents supplied to the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board in October we indicated a partnership opportunity with a third party, and we recently reached an agreement with IESO Nova Scotia.

4. How does NB Power respond to the PCIC’s contention that interveners have now been confronted with documents that fundamentally alter the RIGS project and that NB Power rushed the hearing process with an April 2nd deadline only to now reveal that it knew in December that its has secured an extension of its contract with PROENERGY until June 2nd.

This matter will be discussed next week during the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board hearings.  

5. How does NB Power respond to the following statement from PCIC: “Interveners argue that this pattern reflects a troubling lack of transparency and respect for the regulatory process — one in which key deals are negotiated behind closed doors and revealed only when earlier assumptions and evidence are increasingly called into question?”

(In effect, PCIC is saying that the numbers weren’t working for the tolling agreement involving 400 MWs and now, at the last minute, NB Power seeks to sway the EUB with amended figures involving the sale of an extra 100 MWs to make the RIGS project more financially viable.)

The Renewables Integration and Grid Security (RIGS) Project was always a 500 MW project, and the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) identified it as such. In documents supplied to the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board (NBEUB) in October we indicated a partnership opportunity with a third party was being pursued, and we recently reached an agreement with IESO Nova Scotia and provided updated documents to the NBEUB to be transparent. NB Power respects the regulatory process and timelines, and the NBEUB’s commitment to ensuring a fair process is followed to determine the rates New Brunswickers pay for power. 

To read NB Power’s summary of its additional evidence, click here.

To read a news release from the Protect the Chignecto Isthmus Coalition, click here.

Posted in NB Power, Town of Tantramar | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Serious health concerns, lack of consultation: AWI founder slams NB Power’s proposed Isthmus gas plant

Posted on January 31, 2026 by brucewark

Barry Rothfuss of AWI and the Protect the Chignecto Isthmus Coalition (PCIC)

Barry Rothfuss fought back tears during an interview at the Atlantic Wildlife Institute (AWI) on Friday.

“I’m sorry, it shouldn’t be this hard. I was awake in the night trying to decide whether to tell you this,” he said as he struggled with his emotions.

Rothfuss is executive director of AWI and co-founder of the Protect the Chignecto Isthmus Coalition (PCIC) that is fighting against NB Power’s plans for a 500 MW gas/diesel generating plant near Centre Village.

“I was born with a heart defect, a bicuspid aortic valve,” he says and, after another long pause, he describes how, in 2013, he was hired to investigate the deaths of  7,500 migratory songbirds that flew into a burning gas flare at the Canaport LNG facility in Saint John.

He was there because AWI is the only organization in Atlantic Canada certified to deal with threats to wildlife and to suggest ways of mitigating damage when it occurs.

“I was responding to an event where I was trying to do good,” he says, adding that during his investigation he was exposed to particulate matter from the burning gas.

“My heart was susceptible to that pollutant,” he says. “It had a direct impact on the functioning of my heart. I now have to live with heart failure.”

Rothfuss takes several prescription drugs to keep him alive.

“Now, I’m having a gas plant brought to my backyard,” he says. “It’s not just me. It’s anybody out there who has similar types of health conditions, and particularly elderly people.”

He says if the gas plant is built only 4.5 kilometres from AWI, he will have to shut the place down.

“Again, the issue isn’t just me,” he says. “There are tens of thousands of people who have been exposed to similar types of plants around the world and who are dying from this type of technology being thrust upon them without their ability to discuss it.”

Lack of public consultation

Signs at the site where contractors have removed trees & constructed a road

Rothfuss accuses NB Power and the U.S. company PROENERGY of deliberately bypassing regulations that require public and Indigenous consultation early in the planning stages before a project is designed and before a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIA) is produced.

“All of their internal documents were advising them to consult the community and they ignored it,” he says, adding that the announcement of the gas/diesel plant on July 14th came as a complete surprise to the people in Centre Village, Cookville and Midgic.

“Contracts had already been signed and we had no input,” he says.

“We were left in the dark. We were lied to and, again, literally lied to, at least as far as Indigenous involvement was concerned,” he adds.

He says that the government issued permits enabling PROENERGY to build a road to the site.

“Permits to go in and clear trees before any of this was discussed, to destroy habitat before any of our concerns were addressed,” he says.

Rothfuss points out that neither NB Power nor PROENERGY  have used the words “Chignecto Isthmus” in their public communications.

“They won’t define this as a critical, environmentally sensitive zone within not only New Brunswick, but within the country,” he says.

“Not defined by me, but defined by a multitude of professional scientists and environmentalists and governments that have defined the importance of this particular location as being one of the most ecologically sensitive in the country. And yet we ignore that through this whole process.”

Scare tactics

Sears Sanctuary sign at wilderness property that Sackville journalist Wallie Sears & his family donated to AWI. The 160-acre property is 1.5 km from proposed gas plant site

Rothfuss also accuses NB Power of using scare tactics by warning that New Brunswickers will face power blackouts if the Centre Village plant isn’t built by 2028 and then of trying to escape regulatory scrutiny by the Energy and Utilities Board.

When that failed, he says, NB Power warned that PROENERGY would cancel the contract to build the plant if the EUB doesn’t approve it by April 1st.

“Everybody’s running around on their side of the table like Chicken Little saying that this is going to be the end of the world basically with this grid failure,” Rothfuss says “and yet we’ve never had the ability to sit down at the table at the appropriate times to discuss any alternatives to this project.

“We’ve been forced into an answer that we don’t find is in our community’s best interest, in New Brunswick’s best interest, and we’re told that we just have to swallow it and sit back and accept it,” he says, adding that as a publicly owned crown corporation, NB Power should be willing to address public concerns.

“The politics here is not giving us a fair shot to express our concerns and protect our interests,” he says.

NB Power responds

On Thursday, Warktimes e-mailed NB Power a series of questions based on the main points that Barry Rothfuss had raised in a preliminary telephone interview. NB Power responded with these answers (in italics) the next day referring to the proposed gas/diesel plant as the Renewables Integration Grid Security (RIGS) Project:

Question 1(a) The Protect the Chignecto Isthmus Coalition argue the proposed project is an example of “regulatory bypass” because everything from site selection on was done without proper community input. The PCIC says that site selection itself should have been part of an Environmental Impact Assessment process in which the affected community had an opportunity for input. Instead, the site selection process was already complete when NB Power announced the project on July 14.

NB Power’s response: NB Power takes its regulatory obligations seriously and follows the established provincial processes for all major infrastructure projects. Under New Brunswick’s legislation, the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) evaluates a proposed project after a preferred site has been identified. This is standard practice for large energy and industrial projects across the province. The purpose of the EIA is to assess environmental impacts, gather public input, and ensure appropriate mitigation measures are in place, not to determine which site should be chosen.

We value openness and transparency, and we understand the importance of involving and engaging the community. We will continue to address concerns and answer questions from community members throughout the EIA process. 

1(b) NB Power asked the EUB whether this qualified as a capital project and that delayed the EUB hearing on it and thereby jeopardized the contract with PROENERGY because of the April 1st deadline. The PCIC says this has created a situation where the regulator knows it has a deadline while NB Power continues to argue that unless this project is in operation by 2028, New Brunswickers could face the prospect of a utility that runs out of power with ensuing rolling blackouts. The PCIC says this is an example of creating a crisis atmosphere in order to push the project through without any attempt to gain “social license” for it first.

NB Power followed the required regulatory steps for the Renewables Integration Grid Security (RIGS) Project, including asking the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board (NBEUB) to confirm whether RIGS qualified as a capital project under the Electricity Act. This step was taken to ensure full compliance. The timelines for the NBEUB review were factored into the original project schedule.

The province faces a significant electricity shortfall beginning in 2028, and RIGS is designed to ensure New Brunswickers have the firm capacity required to avoid reliability risks while we add more renewables to our grid. It is important to us at NB Power to be transparent about the energy security challenges the province is facing.

2. The PCIC says that as a Crown Corporation, NB Power has a duty to take the interests of all ratepayers into consideration including community members most affected by the gas plant. They accuse NB Power of practising “bad politics” by placing industrial interests ahead of community interests.

As a Crown corporation, NB Power’s responsibility is to act in the best interests of all New Brunswickers. That means balancing affordability, environmental considerations, and reliability across the entire province, prioritizing all customer groups equally. The RIGS project was proposed because New Brunswick faces a province‑wide electricity shortfall beginning in 2028, and new firm capacity is essential to keep homes and businesses powered.

Our mandate is to ensure safe, reliable electricity for everyone, today and into the future, and to do so through open and accountable regulatory processes and being transparent about our needs and risks.

3. The PCIC says NB Power has not been honest in its claims of Indigenous support for the project.

We are committed to a respectful and transparent relationship with Indigenous communities and recognize the importance of meaningful engagement. As PROENERGY is the proponent for this project, specific questions regarding their Indigenous engagement and support should be directed to them.

4. Finally, the PCIC says NB Power never uses the term “Chignecto Isthmus” and this fudges the issue of environmental effects in an internationally recognized fragile eco-system.

NB Power understands and acknowledges the environmental importance of the Chignecto Isthmus, and the environmental characteristics of the Project will be fully assessed through the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process.

Posted in NB Power, Town of Tantramar | Tagged | 8 Comments

NB Power seeks permission to raise rates before it proves its case

Posted on January 26, 2026 by brucewark

by: John Chilibeck, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter. Source: Telegraph-Journal 
January 25, 2026

NB Power is applying for special permission to immediately push up rates on April 1st by 4.75%, a move that would add close to $130 to average yearly household bills.

Normally, the public utility would have to wait for the provincial regulator, the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board, to review its arguments for a rate increase. As a quasi-judicial body, the EUB ultimately decides NB Power’s rates.

But NB Power says it must seek special approval for an interim measure otherwise its finances will be shot.

It promises to credit more than 400,000 customers if the board makes the highly unlikely decision to reject the rate hike altogether, or more realistically, shaves the request a bit, as it has done in previous years.

Rates have already gone up by 23% over the last three years, causing an outcry from the public, anti-poverty groups and businesses.

Most people in New Brunswick heat primarily with electricity, and bills can already range between $1,800 and $5,000 a year or more, depending on the size of a house, the type of insulation it has, and the heating system.

NB Power filed its general rate application in October. The latest application seeks an interim rate increase starting April 1, 2026, or, failing that, NB Power requests that it may recover any financial losses caused by a delay in introducing new rates after April over the remainder of fiscal year once the decision has been made on the general rate application.

Tantramar gas plant hearing

The utility says it was forced to ask for the measure because NB Power and the EUB will be tied up with hearings on its proposed 500 MW gas/diesel plant on the Chignecto Isthmus.

Those public hearings are scheduled from February 9 to 13 at the Delta Beausejour hotel in Moncton.

Meantime, the hearings for the general rate application are expected to begin in March. They often take several weeks, and the board typically takes months to make a final decision.

NB Power says if the final approved rate is lower than the interim rate, customers’ bills will be adjusted as required by the board.

If the alternative motion is approved, NB Power will recover the money lost due to the delay in setting new rates through a separate charge. This charge would only be applied after the board rules on the final rate and would be in place only until March 31, 2027.

NB Power says the rate increase would raise monthly bills by $10.90 a month for the average residential customer using 1,350 kWh of electricity over a month.

Note: NB Power announced its application for special permission to increase rates immediately in a two-part news release issued last week. The first part says the utility is seeking permission to spend more than $50 million on a major capital project at the Point Lepreau nuclear station after it has already completed the work. To read the release, click here.

This story was written by John Chilibeck, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter for Brunswick News.

Posted in LJI stories, NB Power | Tagged | 5 Comments

Lower our crushing electricity bills, public tells expert panel

Posted on January 25, 2026 by brucewark

By: John Chilibeck, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Source: The Daily Gleaner
January 24, 2026

Review panel member Michael Bernstein. Photo: Government of New Brunswick

People have told an NB Power review team their biggest concern with New Brunswick’s public utility is unaffordable electricity bills that keep going up.

Last March, the Holt Liberal government appointed a trio of experts to conduct a comprehensive review of NB Power in light of several mounting problems facing the province’s 106-year-old monopoly electricity provider.

Last week, nine months in, the review team released a 25-page report, “What We Heard,” summing up public feedback.

Not surprisingly, New Brunswickers are upset about rate shock.

“Affordability is a key issue, whether it’s electricity or housing or groceries, and particularly when we’ve had now two years in a row in New Brunswick of close to 10% rate increases,” said Michael Bernstein, one of the panel experts, in an interview.

“People are very concerned. And you add to that the fact that heating is primarily done through electricity, and therefore from a pocketbook perspective, higher electricity prices really do have an impact on people’s financial situation,” he said.

“We heard that loud and clear.”

‘When will increases end?’

It was the number one issue from about 4,000 respondents in all forms of feedback ranging from in-person and virtual sessions, one-on-one meetings, survey responses, written submissions and e-mail inquiries.

“Many participants expressed deep worry over the possibility of rising electricity costs, noting that recent increases far outpace inflation and wage growth and risk making heat inaccessible,” the panel’s report says.

Review panel member Duncan Hawthorne. Photo: Government of New Brunswick

“Questions such as ‘When will the increases end?’ and ‘Where are power rates going in the next three to five years?’ were common, underscoring widespread anxiety about long-term affordability,” the report adds.

NB Power has jumped rates 23% for its 400,000 residential and business customers over the last three years.

It also plans to hike them 4.75%  higher this April with further increases in the next several years that will likely exceed the rate of inflation.

This has led to dismay. Anti-poverty activists say the price hike is an attack against the most vulnerable, and businesses argue it’s forcing them to make hard choices, such as layoffs at the Irving Paper mill in Saint John, which handed out pink slips to half of its staff last January.

Gov’t meddling

NB Power executives, including CEO Lori Clark, say government meddling with rates over the last dozen years or so has meant electricity prices haven’t kept up with inflation. They also point to high debt costs, badly aging infrastructure and increased demand for electricity as reasons people must pay more for the power they receive.

That has not taken the rough edge off the bills.

And yet, Bernstein knows there’s little his panel can do to lower rates. As an experienced executive in the Canadian power and infrastructure sector, and a senior advisor with the Boston Consulting Group, he knows NB Power needs more money.

He admitted when the panel talked about “mitigating” rates rather than “lowering ” them, people were disappointed.

“The reality is there’s no kind of reasonable scenario in which our rates are going lower, and that’s not just for New Brunswick, that’s globally, that’s across Canada. If you’ve been following what’s happening in the U.S., it is more expensive to produce electricity and electricity demand is going up.”

Nuclear power

Review panel member Anne Bertrand. Photo: Government of New Brunswick

The review panel, which includes nuclear expert Duncan Hawthorne and governance guru Anne Bertrand, heard from a wide variety of people. As one would expect, some of the advice was contradictory.

“Nuclear energy and small modular reactors (SMRs) sparked intense debate,” their “What We Heard” report says.

“Supporters argued that nuclear is essential for reliability and cost stability, pointing to Point Lepreau’s role in the current system,” it adds.

“Opponents countered with concerns about the true environmental impact, safety, radioactive waste, and financial risk and warned against repeating past mistakes.”

A note from the review panel appears to defend nuclear power.

“Nuclear energy has been designated by the Canadian government and many international organizations as a clean energy source,” their note says.

“While opinions may vary, we feel it is important to recognize this designation as it is a non-emitting resource.”

Fossil fuels

The report also mentions opposition to the proposed gas/diesel plant in Tantramar.

“Similarly, fossil fuel projects — particularly the proposed Tantramar gas plant — drew criticism from those who see them as outdated and incompatible with climate goals,” it says.

“A few participants defended natural gas as a transitional option, but this view was far less common.

“Secondary to the conversation around renewable energy, participants repeatedly emphasized the need to keep climate change and social equity at the heart of decision-making,” the report says.

“Many noted that energy poverty and affordability are inseparable from environmental goals, urging decision-makers to ensure that net-zero commitments do not come at the expense of vulnerable communities.”

The review panel itself seems to warn against adopting wind and solar alternatives at “massive scale” as many people urged.

“There was also the view that since there are no fuel costs associated with these green technologies, this would be the cheapest option for New Brunswick,” they write, adding that although the panel does acknowledge the benefits of green technologies, building them would incur significant capital costs.

“It is also the case that New Brunswick has very high electrical demand in the cold winter months and therefore wind and solar technologies, without some form of long duration storage or other back-up power, would not provide the reliability New Brunswickers require,” they write.

Final recommendations

The experts will provide the provincial government with their recommendations in March.

Bernstein said there will be a lot in that final report to chew over. It will include what he called high-level thematic items covering governance, legislative and regulatory reforms to help modernize NB Power.

“But we’re also diving into some more detailed perspectives of things… that can make a difference. So some quick wins,” he added.

To read the “What We Heard” report, click here.

To read Erica Butler’s CBC story on the “What We Heard” report including panel member Michael Bernstein’s comments about the current viability of battery storage to back up renewables, click here.

This story was written by Local Journalism Initiative Reporter John Chilibeck of Brunswick News with additional files from Bruce Wark.

Posted in climate change, LJI stories, NB Power, Town of Sackville | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

NB Power says it will have enough electricity for brutal cold snap

Posted on January 24, 2026 by brucewark

by John Chilibeck, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter. Source: The Daily Gleaner
January 23, 2026

Nicole Poirier, NB Power vice president, customer & strategy. Photo: NB Power

NB Power is bracing for the cold snap that’s going to put New Brunswick into a deep freeze on Saturday.

Nicole Poirier, the vice president of customer and strategy with the electricity provider, gave an update Friday afternoon to reporters.

She said her organization had taken steps to ensure the heat and lights stay on for the province’s 868,000 people.

“Right now, we are confident that we’re able to meet the load requirements over the weekend,” she said on a Teams call.

“From a wind perspective, we don’t see any issues. The cold temperatures obviously will put pressure on the system. It is definitely a cold snap anywhere between -35 to -40. But we have a diverse asset mix of generation. We have hydro, we have wind, we have nuclear on our system, and we have other sources as well.”

There is reason for concern.

NB Power set a record for energy consumption on Feb. 4, 2023, as wind chills plunged to –40. Officials have said since then that the utility had come awfully close to running out of power.

And in a column written by NB Power CEO Lori Clark, published in the Telegraph-Journal Jan. 12, she said the utility came “close, too close” to running out of electricity in early December when the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station near Saint John broke down unexpectedly, just when the season’s first cold snap hit the region.

The plant, which can provide up to one-third of the province’s electricity, is back up and running.

Weather warning

Environment Canada posted a yellow cold warning for the entire province and Prince Edward Island at 10:23 a.m. on Friday. Such cold warnings are issued when temperatures or wind chills elevate the risk of frostbite or hypothermia.

The federal weather forecaster says a prolonged period of very cold wind chills is expected, lasting from Saturday morning to Sunday morning. The coldest wind chills will make it feel like -30 to –37 C. It will be the coldest in northwestern areas of the province.

Fredericton’s wind chill is expected to be –34 Saturday, while Moncton will feel as cold as –33. Saint John will have a wind chill of –30.

Edmundston and Campbellton will really feel it at –36 on Saturday morning, while Bathurst and Miramichi can bet on a –34 windchill.

Outside purchases

Poirier said as long as all NB Power’s plants keep running through the weekend, it shouldn’t have any trouble.

“We actually run different scenarios throughout the week, running up to an event like this,” she said. “We would look at all our generation assets, the condition of our fleet, what we need from a load perspective, to ensure that we meet the load requirements.

“If something were to happen to one of our assets, we may be required to purchase outside, but we don’t see that right now, other than our normal purchases that we would make through Hydro-Québec.”

NB Power CEO Lori Clark testifying at the legislature’s public accounts committee last fall

Asked for comment about Clark’s column, NB Power spokeswoman Elizabeth Fraser said earlier this week her team “works hard every day to ensure NB Power customers continued to receive the electricity they depend on to go about their daily lives.”

She noted that the column highlighted the challenges NB Power faced when the Point Lepreau and Saint John’s Bayside generating stations were offline.

“These issues were compounded by lower-than-expected power transfers from Quebec and reduced water flows on the St. John River, which limited hydroelectric output,” she wrote to Brunswick News.

“To maintain reliability, NB Power operated more expensive generating stations: Coleson Cove and Millbank – and purchased additional power from New England.”

Gas/diesel plant

NB Power officials have said they are in a rush to build a new gas/diesel plant generator in Tantramar because they expect to run out of enough electricity by 2028.

However, Alain Chiasson, the public intervener hired by the province to represent the public interest, plans to oppose the new gas/diesel plant at Energy & Utilities Board hearings next month in Moncton.

One of his experts, Jeffrey Palermo, has filed EUB testimony suggesting that NB Power’s forecasts are wrong and the utility does not need electricity from the gas/diesel plant known as the RIGS project.

“The most recent Maritimes Area resource adequacy study shows that NB Power has enough resources available without the RIGS generation to meet or exceed its planning requirements through 2030,” he states in a 47-page document available on the EUB website.

To read previous coverage of Palermo’s testimony, click here.

This story was written by Local Journalism Initiative reporter John Chilibeck of Brunswick News with additional files from Bruce Wark.

Posted in LJI stories, NB Power | Tagged | 1 Comment

U.S. company promised cheaper, gas/diesel turbines with $172M in ‘economic uplift’

Posted on January 21, 2026 by brucewark

Councillor Josh Goguen

The company NB Power chose to build a 500 MW gas/diesel generating plant on the Chignecto Isthmus promised to supply  its PE6000 jet engine turbines at a lower cost than its competitors’ turbines while minimizing the time needed for construction by using a modular power-plant concept known as PowerFLX.

“Through standardization, the PowerFLX solution eliminates variability, dramatically decreases costs through economies of scale, and allows for accelerated installation,” the U.S. company WattBridge, a subsidiary of PROENERGY, said in a document it submitted to NB Power on August 8, 2024 in response to the utility’s request for expressions of interest.

“This plant design has been used in more than 65 package installations for WattBridge and other parties since 2021,” the company states, adding that the engineering, procurement and construction phases of the project would contribute more than $172 million in “economic uplift” to local and surrounding areas.

The document was one of several released in response to a right to information request filed in October by Tantramar Councillor Josh Goguen.

He made his request after PROENERGY Canada President John MacIsaac told members of council they should “fact check” his statements that the North Shore Mi’kmaq Tribal Council had invested in the gas plant project.

Documents that NB Power released in early November to Warktimes and that are also included in the latest package sent to Councillor Goguen, do not support MacIsaac’s claim that the Mi’kmaq had agreed to invest in the plant.

The documents do show, however, that Indigenous investment was possible and legal steps were taken to make it happen although the Chiefs of the nine Mi’gmaq First Nations have said since that the project can’t go ahead until it undergoes a rigorous, Mi’gmaq-led, rights impact assessment.

Two plants?

PE6000 aereoderivative gas turbine. Photo: WattBridge

NB Power’s request for expressions of interest says it is seeking proposals for a 400 MW gas/diesel plant “with option to expand at a single plant site,” an apparent reference to an additional 100 MW that the utility has since said it will sell to an unidentified customer to help reduce costs.

WattBridge’s proposal in 2024, however, mentions “two phases of 400 MW each” but the locations of the two plants are blacked out.

During a public meeting last week in Sackville, NB Power VP Brad Coady explained that the utility is planning for a 600 MW plant in the Scoudouc Industrial Park just in case it’s needed in the years ahead.

“I commit to you right now there are no plans for future expansion of the Tantramar site,” he promised. “It’s a 500 MW site.”

To read the batch of heavily-redacted documents from NB Power, click here.

Posted in economic development, NB Power, Town of Tantramar | Tagged , , | 1 Comment