NS Power: the unreal threat of $500,000-a-day fines

27 July, 2009
Why did Nova Scotia Power come to the Utility and Review Board with what the board called, "an incomplete, poorly documented application?" In an email exchange with contrarian, Consumer Advocate John Merrick offers a couple of theories: They didn’t expect as much opposition and questioning because they thought it was such a win-win scenario (using a renewable energy source other than coal; helping keep NewPage viable and thus an employer in the province; giving woodlot owners and sawmills a source of revenue) they would be applauded from all corners of the province. Once into the hearing it was too late to...
Check out how they’re doing it in Ontario and other out-front jurisdictions, where "feed-in" laws or "standard offer contracts" are in effect — in which the utility is required to take power produced by entrepreneurs at a fixed rate, no haggling. Wherever it’s been tried, there’s been an explosion of energy entrepreneurship and new jobs. The [Nova Scotia Power] system of calling tenders one project at a time didn’t work elsewhere, and it hasn’t worked here.Ralph makes a few good points in the column, but these two paragraphs contain more foolishness than enough.