Enbridge looking at appealing court ruling on pricing

Enbridge Gas New Brunswick says it's looking at appealing a court ruling that upholds the provincial government's new pricing rules.

The company's legal challenge of the regulations that were adopted earlier this year was thrown out by a judge on Thursday.

The regulation requires the Energy and Utilities Board to change the way it sets distribution rates — in effect preventing Enbridge from raising them.

Enbridge's general manager for New Brunswick, Dave Charleson, says company lawyers are looking at the ruling.

The company has been the province's only natural gas distributor since 2000.

Enbridge had argued it could lose more than $9.7 million a year and be forced to cut its staff in half and reduce services under the new regulations.

It had asked the court to overturn them, but Court of Queen's Bench Justice Paulette Garnett dismissed the application.

"We're definitely disappointed with the decision from the court. At this point, we're taking a closer look at it and considering what options may be available to us. Are there grounds we may want to appeal that decision on, or just what next steps there might be from a legal perspective," Charleson said.

The original rules for Enbridge's distribution pricing was based on a forecast of how many people would sign up for natural gas.

Because the company didn't meet the target, it's been forced to pass on more of the cost of building its pipeline network to a smaller group of customers.

The province brought in the new rules to put a stop to that.