Residents in New Brunswick are expected to see a rise in the cost of their utility bills following another rate hike by NB Power.
Customers can expect a rise of 9.7 per cent, which was approved by the Energies and Utilities Board back in November 2024 and follows an identical hike from April 2024.
“As a cost-of-service utility, NB Power’s rates must reflect the actual costs of delivering electricity. Rising costs for fuel, equipment, and maintenance, along with necessary investments in grid reliability and modernization, have made rate adjustments essential,” the utility said, explaining the reason for the rate hike on its website.
Ratepayers will pay 14.76 cents per kilowatt-hour of electricity used, up from 13.46 cents.
An additional charge from the variance account will up the price by another 0.41 cents per kilowatt-hour.
The monthly service charge will also increase, according to NB Power, from $26.95 to $29.55.
“Like many households and businesses, we’re experiencing rising costs for fuel, equipment, and maintenance—all while investing in the long-term reliability of our electrical grid,” the utility said in an email to customers.
It said the rate hikes will go toward upgrades to our aging infrastructure, improvements to service reliability and security, investments in grid modernization and advanced technology, continued transformation to meet future energy demands, addressing environmental challenges, and improving the customer experience.
It comes as the province has launched a third-party investigation into spikes in power bills from residential ratepayers, which has already been delayed.
According to Efficiency Canada, an advocacy group for an energy efficient economy housed at Carleton University’s Sustainable Energy Research Centre, New Brunswick has the third highest level of energy poverty in the country.
Energy poverty is defined as paying more than 6 per cent of income toward energy costs.
About 26 per cent of New Brunswick households live in energy poverty, third behind Nova Scotia at 27 per cent and Newfoundland and Labrador at 31 per cent.
In February, it provided an update on the third-party review.
“While the initial review has not identified any issues with our metering and billing systems, we are not satisfied that it digs deeply enough into two specific areas of concern,” the update said online.
It identifies those areas as:
- A statistically significant sample comparing smart meters to legacy meters across the province.
- Specific work on a sample of New Brunswickers who have registered as part of the review process.
“This additional work is ongoing, and we anticipate it will be complete in April,” the utility said on its website. “Once the review is finalized, we will release the report publicly and are prepared to appear before the standing committee on public accounts if requested.”
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