History of Nova Scotia, 2000 October onward

History of Nova Scotia
with special attention given to
Communications and Transportation

Chapter 41
2000 October onward

Go To: Index with links to the other chapters

2000 October 1

Nova Scotia Power Inc. Approves Preferred Share Quarterly Dividends

To be paid October 1st, 2000

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA – The Board of Directors of Nova Scotia Power Inc. today approved a quarterly dividend of $0.375 per Nova Scotia Power Incorporated Series A First Preferred Share for the quarter ending September 30, 2000 payable on and after October 1, 2000 to Series A preferred shareholders of record September 17, 2000; and a quarterly dividend of $0.0804687 per Nova Scotia Power Incorporated Series B First Preferred Share for the quarter ending September 30, 2000 payable on and after October 1, 2000 to Series B preferred shareholders of record September 17, 2000.

Nova Scotia Power Inc. is a regulated company and is the principal supplier of electricity in Nova Scotia with 440,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers. Its system is province wide and its operations include approximately 97% of the generation, 99% of the transmission and 95% of the distribution of electric power throughout Nova Scotia. The Company had 1999 revenues of $799,000,000. Nova Scotia Power Inc. preferred shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbols NSI.PR.A and NSI.UN. Nova Scotia Power Inc. is a subsidiary of NS Power Holdings Inc. whose common shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol NSH.

Source:
Nova Scotia Power press release, 7 July 2000
http://biz.yahoo.com/ccn/000707/m.html

References:
Nova Scotia Power Privatization Act, Part One, 1992
http://www.gov.ns.ca/legi/legc/statutes/novpwrp1.htm
Nova Scotia Power Privatization Act, Part Two, 1992
http://www.gov.ns.ca/legi/legc/statutes/novpwrp2.htm
Nova Scotia Power Reorganization (1998) Act, 1998
http://www.gov.ns.ca/legi/legc/bills/57th_1st/3rd_read/b087.htm
Nova Scotia Power Inc.
http://www.nspower.ca/
Nova Scotia Power Inc.
http://www.dal.ca/~stanet/database/nspower.html
Emera Inc. (formerly Nova Scotia Power Holdings Inc.)
http://www.emera.com/
SEDAR profile of Nova Scotia Power Inc.
http://www.sedar.com/dynamic_pages/issuerprofiles_e/i00000233.htm
Toronto Stock Exchange profile of Nova Scotia Power Inc.
http://www.tse.com/profiles/NSH.html
Canadian Electricity Industry News
http://www.canelect.ca/connections_online/this_week/canada/canada.htm

2000 October 9

Kentville Electric Rates Increase

On this day, the first stage of a planned increase in electricty rates for Kentville residents and small businesses went into effect. The increases affect 3,158 residental customers and 210 commercial customers.

After a lengthy series of public hearings and much controversy, Nova Scotia Power Inc. (NSPI) bought the Kentville Electric Commission's power distribution system for $13,300,000 in 1998. At the time, the Commission's rates were below those charged by NSPI across the province. As part of the purchase agreement, the Utility and Review Board (formerly known as the Public Utility Board) approved a holiday on rate changes for two years, followed by a gradual increase in three increments over three years to bring the rates in Kentville up to match those charged in the rest of the province.

NSPI spokesperson Denise Corra told The Advertiser on August 17th that the rates for small businesses will increase by ten per cent a year over three years, and those for residential customers will go up by five per cent a year over the same period.

"That will bring the rates in line," Corra explained. "It was a planned increase until they are in line with everybody else." Asked how the increases could be justified when they had been so low under the Kentville Electric Commission, she said that the rates "are in direct relation to our costs. And we amortize the costs over the whole of our distribution syste." They are in keeping with the overall costs of electrical power production and distribution. The Kentville Electric Commission (KEC) did not have those costs.

The major difference is geographic. The KEC served a small area, with relatively high population density compared to NSPI's distribution system which covers almost the entire province with hundreds of kilometres of power lines along roads in areas with only a few customers each kilomtre. The Nova Scotia government, through legislation, requires NSPI to charge the same rates everywhere, with the effect that customers in higher-density lower-cost areas pay a little more than the cost directly attributable to them, and customers in lower-density higher-cost areas pay a little less than the cost directly attributable to them. This policy was the result of a decision made by the provincial government, and NSPI has no choice except to follow it.

Kentville Mayor Gary Pearl acknowledged that the increases "are right in line with what we agreed" at the time of the sale of KEC to NSPI.

[The Kentville Advertiser, 22 August 2000]

References:
Nova Scotia Power Inc.
http://www.nspower.ca/
History of Electric Power Companies in Nova Scotia
http://alts.net/ns1625/electric.html

Dare one hope that Nova Scotia Power will learn something from its newly-acquired (or shortly-to-be-acquired) subsidiary, Bangor Hydro Electric Company, about being open and up front with their customers?

Nowhere in NSPI's website is there any information about the company's electric rates. Not a hint of a shadow of a whisper. And, in their press releases section, there is nothing whatever about the changes in the Kentville electric rates.

Look at the direct and informative press release Price Increase for Bangor Hydro Customers 25 July 2000, posted online at http://www.bhe.com/about/body_news_000725.html. Compare that with NSPI's blanket of silence about the Kentville rate increase.

Compare NSPI's Kremlin-style attitude of total secrecy with Bangor Hydro's very open and informative website at http://www.bhe.com/ which has an excellent section telling us just what the company's electric rates are, with additional information useful to customers who want to inform themselves about their electric costs.

Look at this smorgasboard of relevant and useful information:
Bangor Hydro Electric Rates
http://www.bhe.com/elec_suppliers/rates_elec.html
Bill Analysis – Bangor Hydro's online electric consumption estimator
http://www.bhe.com/residential/body_ba_intro.html
Bangor Hydro´s online calculator which lets you, our residential customer, perform a quick check of your daily electricity use
http://www.bhe.com/residential/body_quickcheck.html
Bangor Hydro explains what a kilowatt-hour is (this is a bit garbled, but at least they tried)
http://www.bhe.com/residential/body_em_terms.html
Bangor Hydro explains how to read your electric meter
http://www.bhe.com/residential/body_em_track_use.html
Bangor Hydro provides a list of household appliances, their typical wattage, typical period of use, and typical monthly energy costs
http://www.bhe.com/residential/body_em_use_list.html
Bangor Hydro explains your electric bill
http://www.bhe.com/residential/body_05_new_bill.html
Bangor Hydro even has – gasp – a public report of Penobscot River flow data which, for a company that generates significant quantities of electric energy from hydro generating plants, is vital information
http://www.bhe.com/riverflow/body_riverflow.html

I hope Bangor Hydro's commendable attitude toward making important information publicly available will have a beneficial effect on those in charge of designing NSPI's website.

2000 December 31

Last Day of the
Old Millennium

2001 January 1

First Day of the
New Millennium

2001 April 1

Mulgrave Loses Road Cost-Sharing

The provincial Department of Transportation has given the Town of Mulgrave written notice of the termination, effective 31 March 2001, of its cost-sharing program for road maintenance and repair. In a letter to the town, transportation minister Ron Russell says the Aids-to-Towns road maintenance agreement between Mulgrave and the province was signed in 1996, and provided funding for snow and ice removal, summer maintenance, and capital improvements. The minister's letter, received by the town in August 2000, noted that ninety days' notice was needed prior to the October signing date to change the agreement. "Effective April 1, 2001, the Town will be responsible for all maintenance and construction activities on all streets within the town boundaries," the minister wrote. Mulgrave mayor Leonard MacDonald says the cut will cost the town about $10,000 a year. MacDonald said that figure is what the provincial department has contributed toward road repairs in past years.
[The Guysborough Journal, 16 August 2000]