Holt Liberals set one-year timeline for N.B. Power review
Premier promises transparent process to reach decision on debt-laden utility’s future by March 2026
The Holt Liberal government is giving itself less than a year to come up with a decision about the future of debt-laden N.B. Power.
Some details about a planned public consultation process — including who will run it and how many open meetings there will be — are still taking shape.
But Premier Susan Holt says final recommendations, and a decision by her government, are due by the end of March, 2026.
She told reporters she's aware she must convince a cynical public that the process really is open-ended, with no preset conclusions.
Holt said New Brunswickers "will have access to, directly," the three people who will be chosen to oversee the consultations.
"These three individuals will be putting their own names and reputations on the line," she said.
"Regardless of what the recommendations are, if New Brunswickers won't accept them, either because they didn't believe in the process of they don't believe in the recommendations, we're not going to be further ahead."
The consultations will look at four main issues: N.B. Power's finances, including its $5 billion debt; its governance and structure, its attractiveness to potential investors and partners, and its ability to meet customer expectations.
In a statement, utility CEO Lori Clark said the process represented a chance to look at the Crown corporation's challenges.
"We welcome meaningful dialogue with New Brunswickers and are committed to supporting this important work by sharing information, data, and expertise."
The catalyst for the process was a large number of complaints from customers about home heating bills in January that appeared to be unusually high, even with cold weather and recent rate increases factored in.
Underlying those concerns is the larger issue of a Crown corporation that has been unable to reduce its enormous debt, requiring rate hikes totalling 19 per cent over the last two years.
With a required refurbishment of the Mactaquac hydroelectric dam looming — at a cost of at least $7.6 billion — the Liberals have decided to re-examine the entire structure of the utility, with a sale as one option.
That idea provoked an angry public reaction when a previous Liberal government proposed it in 2009.
Holt aims to avoid that by holding extensive public meetings.
"We will be holding public engagement opportunities where people can come out and express at an open mic their views and ideas."
The process will also involve consultations with experts, stakeholders and Indigenous communities.
"The status quo is not an option," Holt said. "We know there won't be one easy fix to this problem.
"I don't think there will be a silver bullet. I guess I'll be happily surprised if there is one. But we think the solutions are going to be complex and mutlfaceted."
If the conclusions from experts are at odds with public opinion, it'll be up to politicians to "bring New Brunswickers along" or adjust.
"It is the job of politicians to determine how far we can go and how close we can get to what might be a technically ideal solution that isn't publicly ideal," she said.
Progressive Conservative energy critic Kris Austin said the consultation isn't needed.
"I think my question to the premier and the government is: What are you hoping to get out of this review that we don't already know?" he said, citing N.B. Power's annual report, auditor general reports and a review by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
"I don't think we're going to find anything new N.B. Power a year from now. … They're saying, 'We're not going to do anything with N.B. Power for the next year.'"
Asked what should be done with the utility, Austin pointed to the previous PC government's efforts to have the utility lower the ratio of its debt to its equity value.
Holt said an audit into the seemingly high January power bills is still expected by the end of this month.
She acknowledged that her government's removal of the provincial portion of the harmonized sales tax — 10 per cent — had been offset and more by the two years of rate increases.
She did not announce any additional short-term relief Monday.
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