John Chilibeck
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Daily Gleaner
The Holt Liberal government is under fire for allowing NB Power to disconnect households during the winter, a practice opposition parties say threatens the lives of the most vulnerable when temperatures are icy.
Kris Austin, energy critic for the Progressive Conservatives, the biggest opposition party in the House, asked the energy minister in question period last week why NB Power was cutting off low-income people, some of them with children, in the winter months, when it could be as cold as -20 Celsius.
René Legacy blasted back that NB Power was doing everything it could to avoid such situations. He said on average, NB Power tries to contact a household multiple times before chopping their electricity.
“Imagine that somebody is three or four months behind on their bills, it is now winter, and NB Power has not been able to contact them,” the minister said.
“NB Power hasn’t been able to contact this person after trying seven, eight, nine, or 10 times. Does the member really feel that, come spring, April or May, this vulnerable person, who has not been in contact, has not been working with NB Power, and has not been trying to fix the situation, is going to be in a better situation?” Austin immediately shot back that the minister was risking people’s lives.
“I’ll tell you what people wouldn’t have on April 1: cold bodies,” the MLA retorted. “Listen, New Brunswick has extreme temperatures. We all know this. We all live here. It can be -20 C or -30 C with the windchill. You can cut people off in May, June, July, August, September, or October.”
Austin, who is the MLA for Fredericton- Grand Lake, recounted that a single mother with five children came to his office in Minto because their power was cut in the middle of January.
“That is not humane, and I believe it is up to this government to push NB Power to ensure that does not happen. It is clear that this minister would prefer to defend that policy and defend the fact that single moms and poor and low-income people are being cut off from heat in the wintertime rather than stand up for New Brunswickers.”
The issue came out in the open this week after Brunswick News published NB Power’s statistics on cutting household electricity. It’s considered a serious issue because three out of four residences heat primarily with electricity in a province where the temperature can hover at or below zero from November till April.
Over a recent seven-year period, 4,322 households had their pow- er cut off between November and March, the iciest months.
NB Power insists it only cuts people’s electricity as a last resort, following plenty of phone calls and warning messages, and at least three months of arrears stacked up for non-payment of bills.
Buteven in one of the coldest recent months in February 2023 when the average temperature that month in Fredericton was -8.7 C, which Environment Canada described as chillier than normal, the Crown corporation cut the electricity to 169 households.
Still, Legacy defended NB Power when Brunswick News asked him about this statistic. He said the Tories, not the Liberals, were in power during February 2023.
“Yeah, it’s 28 days,” he said of the month of February. “Like last year, in February, there was minus 30s, and there was pluses on certain days.”
A former executive at a credit union, Legacy said it was important for people who struggle with their finances to keep lines of communication open. He said it was poor practice for an organization like NB Power to just ignore non-payment of bills as the problem will just worsen over time.
“NB Power doesn’t want to disconnect people. The problem is sometimes we just can’t contact the customers. Some of those houses are abandoned, some of them, you know, they’ve just left,” Legacy said. “But there are very strict rules around what the temperature has to be, no weather events, so they don’t just disconnect on the -30 days.”
Asked by reporters how he knew this, he said NB Power executives had told him so.
Green party Leader David Coon said he had taken calls from plenty of desperate poor people who couldn’t convince NB Power to listen to their pleas in the middle of winter.
Heat is essential in New Brunswick between November and at least mid-March, when snow is often still on the ground.
“When I get involved or other MLAs get involved, we always are able to arrive at an acceptable plan for repayment and avoid disconnection with NB power every time, every time.”
Coon said it was obvious NB Power had problems negotiating with their customers if politicians had to get involved.
Coon added it was high time for the province to offer low-income households a subsidy for cheaper electricity and help more people insulate their homes and install heat pumps, noting the long waiting list for such a program.
“They’re gonna freeze or they’re gonna have to somehow find other accommodations or become homeless. So, it’s unacceptable. It should just be a straight ban on disconnections in the wintertime, and that would solve this problem.”
