How would NB Power Sale affect Saint John Energy?

Like many people in Saint John, I’ve been trying to figure out how the sale of NB Power would affect the rate that I pay for power.

I asked the president of Saint John Energy for details, and I received the following response:

Shawn,

You’ve asked a very pertinent question. The honest answer is ..We don’t know, due to the lack of details at this time. As one of three municipal utilities (Wholesale class) in the province we are discussing a number of issues with costs being the prime focus. We hope to be meeting with the government in the near future to express our concerns. As the deal stands today with frozen rates for all but the industrial class, the Wholesale utility will lose money over the first five years due to the effects of inflation. Any loss must be made up from rates. It will be our intent to maintain the benefits we bring to our respective municipalities as this proposal moves forward. Thank you for your concern.

Eric J. Marr, P.Eng.
President & CEO
eric.marr@sjenergy.com

This runs contract to Mayor Ivan Courts comments on the matter.

Following meetings with Premier Shawn Graham and others in the provincial government, Court said Saint John power rates should actually go down.

“My understanding is whatever reduction is going to industry will go to Saint John Energy. So there should be actual savings,” Court said. “What we have now we’ll still have, but there should be actual reductions.”

However, this wouldn’t be the first time the Mayor is completely wrong on a given subject.

It was only a few months ago that the Mayor suddenly announced that the province would be chipping in $59 million dollars for water treatment.  It turned out that he was wrong on the subject, and according to Saint John Energy, he is also wrong on energy rates.

While we await more details, it looks like this deal isn’t just bad for us in the long term – it’s going to be bad for us in the short term too!