N.B. Power report based on 'facts and evidence,' auditors tell MLAs

Auditors who examined an apparent winter spike in N.B. Power bills have persuaded one opposition party that meters are working properly — but another party still has doubts.

The two senior auditors from KPMG Canada spent almost three hours Thursday fielding questions from MLAs about their conclusions that the utility's residential meters accurately measured the electricity customers were consuming.

"Our work was focused on facts and evidence and data and analytics-based work. It was robust and it was thorough," said Andrea Coish, an auditor and managing partner of KPMG's Halifax office.

Jack Martin, a KPMG expert in forensic data analytics, told the public accounts committee that "there's no evidence that either conventional meters or smart meters were overstating the power consumption of New Brunswick Power residential customers." 

They said it was up to N.B. Power to look at why some ratepayers were consuming more electricity than they believed.

The anecdotal evidence of unexplained spikes in January power bills put the Holt Liberal government on the defensive last winter, prompting it to call in KPMG.

WATCH |  'Our work was focused on facts': auditors grilled by MLAs

N.B. Power auditors field questions from MLAs about bill spikes

5 hours ago

Duration 2:54

Two political parties say they accept that meters accurately measure electricity consumption. One still isn’t sure.

The auditors examined 400 cases of bill spikes — enough to provide a statistically accurate picture of all customers, Martin said.

The report backed N.B. Power's initial explanation that a cold winter, a longer December billing period and a major rate increase — which may have passed unnoticed until winter — combined to jolt customers with high bills.

At least one Liberal MLA said he was convinced.

"We need to stick to the facts and the fact was, on the 400-plus meters, there was nothing wrong about that," Hautes-Terres-Nepisiguit Liberal MLA Luc Robichaud told reporters.

Green Party Leader David Coon, who had raised questions about the accuracy of some N.B. Power bills, said he was persuaded by the presentation.

"My view is that the report, after all the questioning, finds that the system is functioning properly for New Brunswickers in terms of making sure that the bills they're being given reflect their actual consumption," he said.

"I'm confident that's the case now." 

But Progressive Conservative energy critic Kris Austin said he believes some New Brunswickers will remain unpersuaded because KPMG relied on meter data collected by N.B. Power's own meter testers.

"What we had called for was a review and a testing of the meters outside of N.B. Power's purview. That's what we wanted to see. That's what did not happen," he said.

N.B. Power CEO Lori Clark told the committee that the utility's testers, who are certified by a federal agency, Measurement Canada, would be risking their careers if they deliberately faked any numbers.

"There's no incentive for a tester to producer fraudulent results. These are highly trained individuals who would lose their certification and their jobs if they didn't measure properly," she said.

Austin told reporters it was his job as an MLA to reflect public skepticism at the committee, even after three hours of expert testimony. 

"It's not my place to tell ratepayers the meters are working properly. My personal opinion — I have no reason to believe they're not," he told reporters.

"It's not whether I'm satisfied. It's whether ratepayers are satisfied, and what I'm hearing from many ratepayers is they're not satisfied."

Clark told the committee that Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador all experienced a public backlash to similar bill spikes during the winter — and authorities in all three provinces came to the same conclusions as N.B. Power.

Clark acknowledged to the MLAs that it has been a struggle for N.B. Power to convince some customers that they're consuming more electricity than they believe.

The utility plans to provide more information to ratepayers, including about how their habits and the weather may affect their bills.

"We have recognized through this process that a lot of our customers do not understand how they are using electricity and they know very little about how consumption is measured and how much they're using in their homes. So there is an education requirement, for sure." 

Clark told MLAs that N.B. Power needs their help to push back at what she called misinformation and misperceptions circulating online, particularly on social media.

"I understand the perception and I hope we've been able to demonstrate to you, and to New Brunswickers, that the perception isn't reality."