Maritime Electric files request to temporarily increase power rates for P.E.I. customers
CBC
Customers on P.E.I. may soon see an spike in their power bills after Maritime Electric filed a request with the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission to increase rates for a one-year period, starting in March.
If it's approved by IRAC, the application would amount to a seven per cent increase on customers' bills, an average of around $15 more each month. Industrial customers would pay up to twice more.
The changes would take effect March 1 and end Feb. 28, 2027, or until otherwise approved by the commission.
"The commission does consider the requested effective date in an application, however, the requested date for a rate change to take effect is just that: a request," a spokesperson for IRAC said in an emailed statement.
"The commission must always do its due diligence when processing applications and does not provide any guarantees to Maritime Electric that applications will be processed to accommodate the requested effective dates for rate changes."
The P.E.I. power utility said in its filing that the rate increase would help pay off $32 million in cost overruns it incurred during the shutdown of Point Lepreau.
The nuclear generating station in New Brunswick went down for repairs last July for an expected 140 days of maintenance. The plant's return to service took two weeks longer than expected, but it was brought back online in mid-December.
Maritime Electric buys 15 per cent of its daily power supply from New Brunswick, so when Point Lepreau goes offline, the Island utility has to purchase electricity from elsewhere — and at a higher cost.
In its statement, IRAC said the utility currently has six other applications before the commission that may result in rate changes, but that decisions have not been made on those.
Maritime Electric president and CEO Jason Roberts said in November that the company is trying to keep its expenses low, but that it's facing several cost pressures.
Those include expenses related to post-tropical storm Fiona in 2022. Maritime Electric has an application before IRAC to recover about $37 million in Fiona restoration costs through a customer rate increase.
The company also has another application before IRAC involving a $427-million proposal to build fossil fuel-powered generators. Maritime Electric is waiting for a decision on that project, and no timeline has been set.
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