Fuel costs prompt another power rate increase application
Posted Nov 10, 2011 04:18:18 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Nova Scotia Power has filed another application to raise power rates after determining the actual cost of fuel was more than what it had forecast.
The private utility is allowed to recover the actual cost of what it spent to produce power.
This year, it’s asking for a 3.2% hike. That will be on top of a 4.9% general rate increase that was settled upon recently and is still awaiting approval by the Utility and Review Board.
Nova Scotia Power says it could mean roughly $9 more a month on the average residential bill if both are approved. The increases would take effect January 1, 2012.
The utility says one of the factors in the latest increase application is the $7 million it spent producing power for the Newpage paper mill in Port Hawkesbury, a cost that remaining customers may have to cover. The mill is now closed and the application filed on Friday assumes it will stay closed throughout 2012.
