N.B. Power appeals for calm after alleged assault on utility employee

N.B. Power is asking the public to cool down after physical assaults on employees and verbal harassment during hundreds calls to the utility over rising power bills.

N.B. Power put out a release on Thursday about two assaults on employees in the field but gave no details.

Spokesperson Dominique Couture said the utility would not release any details about them except that they happened in Shediac and Cap-Pelé.

One of the workers was pressing charges and the other was not, Couture said, referring all comment to the RCMP.

Sgt. Pierre-Luc Haché of the Shediac detachment told CBC News the force only had one report of such an incident, and  it happened March 29 in Cap-Pelé. Charges are pending but not yet filed, Haché said, so he was unable to give any further details. 

In an interview, Nicole Poirier, N.B. Power's vice-president of operations, described the aggressive behaviour among customers as an increasing trend. 

"There's an increase in physical harm, verbal aggression, threatening behaviours directed to our field teams, which includes our employees installing the smart meters, our customer care staff and across our social media platforms," Poirier said. 

"We want employees to feel safe in doing their jobs and, and that's what they're doing. They're just doing their jobs."

In addition to the physical assaults, Poirier said the utility has had about 170 calls a week lately that would be considered aggressive to their customer support team. Poirier could not say what a normal number of aggressive calls would be, but said 170 represents an "alarming" increase.

"Abusive calls where customers exhibit behaviours that go beyond frustration, I would say it becomes personally targeted, threatening or verbally abusive."

An N.B. Power post on Facebook about the assaults generated more than 600 public comments. Most appeared to defend the violence and blaming it on hardships caused by rising power bills. 

Couture said N.B. Power does monitor social media comments and will remove threatening or aggressive ones. 

"If it becomes a real threat, then security becomes involved and the RCMP is involved, but again, for us, it's important to have that dialogue," Couture said. 

Price increases, 'misinformation' about smart meters blamed

The utility's prices for customers are rising 30 per cent in three years. This year alone, residential customers face an average of $244 in higher charges compared to last year.

That spike has increased scrutiny on N.B. Power and spurred the government to order an external audit of the billing system, which is expected to be released this month. 

Customers have also complained of large jumps in cost after N.B. Power installed smart meters on their homes. 

When asked how the corporation is supporting employees from public anger and hatred, Poirier said by going public, N.B. Power is asking the public to recognize what is going on. 

"If people have concerns around their bills or smart meters, there are avenues to go through," she said. 

Additionally, all crews who install smart meters are travelling in pairs.

Poirier pointed to "misinformation" online about smart meters and increased power bills as a driver of the aggressive behaviour.

"We've had high bill complaints, not just with smart meters," Poirier said when asked for examples of misinformation.

When asked if the increased animosity is a sign that N.B. Power should be doing more to address problems of higher bills, Poirier said "I don't know what else we can do," and then went on to describe the independent third-party review that is ongoing into price hikes. 

"So you know, that to me is a big step with, you know, dealing with this."