The Nova Scotia Energy Board has mandated Nova Scotia Power to reimburse over a million dollars due to an expensive shutdown at a coal-fired plant that critics argue could have been prevented. However, the expected refund per customer is only around two to three dollars.
This decision came after an audit of energy expenses passed on to customers by Nova Scotia Power in segments of 2022 and 2023. Acting on the advice of the consumer advocate, the board initiated the refund following the audit, which revealed a malfunction at the Trenton power plant in early 2023.
Reportedly, staff at the Trenton plant closed a pump valve during a boiler pressure test to address a leak but failed to reopen it before proceeding to the next stage. Consequently, the pump incurred damage and failed due to the suction valve not being opened before starting, resulting in two shutdowns lasting over 11 days. During this period, Nova Scotia Power had to resort to more expensive energy sources, accumulating costs of approximately $1.14 million.
The consumer advocate attributed the incident to “various shortcomings,” including human error, equipment issues, and procedural lapses. It contended that the outage cost should be repaid to customers, a stance supported by the board.
While the board will include interest in the refund, the method of calculation has not been disclosed yet. With around 525,000 customers, most of them are eligible for the refund, which would amount to slightly over $2 per customer before interest.
In a previous similar audit, the board ordered a refund due to a fuel spill, initially valued at $2.61 million but accumulating to $3.64 million with interest.
This new refund constitutes a small fraction of the total energy expenses billed by Nova Scotia Power to customers during the audit period, which totaled about $1.7 billion.