Frustration is growing in Nova Scotia as many Nova Scotia Power customers say they’re struggling with record-high electricity bills after the utility company’s cyberattack.
Nova Scotia Power said its remote meters will be fully functioning by March, after nearly a year of “estimating” thousands of bills.
For Dartmouth, N.S., resident Timothy Allenby, it’s unacceptable.
“My power bill is higher than my most recent paycheque,” he said.
Allenby stepped out during his lunch break from work to speak to Global News, explaining that he’s paying nearly a quarter of his income in energy costs. He’s just two weeks into a new job and the unpredictability of his next bill is making it impossible to budget, he said.
“I’m dreading what it’s going to be once my next bill comes in that actually covers all this snow we’ve had recently,” he said.
Nova Scotia Power has said it lost its ability to read meters remotely since suffering a cybersecurity breach last spring. It has since been estimating about half its customers’ bills.
The utility said about 75 per cent of its smart meters are back online, and vowed that any customers who paid an over-estimation will see that difference deducted on their next bill with a “true read.”
In an update last week, the utility said 84 per cent of its bills were “true reads” in January — some of which required workers to manually read them — and its goal is to have 100 per cent by the end of March.
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“When a bill is read today, it will go back and will correct any estimation amounts from the previous periods of time,” Chris Lanteigne, the company’s director of customer care, told reporters on Feb. 6.
Lanteigne said there were no cases where the company owes customers money.
“What we’re seeing right now more of is the situation where customers actually have a balance owing us,” he added.
He pointed out that Nova Scotia Power hasn’t been charging interest since the reach and said customers can instead pay a set amount per month to catch up on outstanding balances.
Diane Logsdail, a customer from Annapolis County, said it’s the company that should actually be paying her interest.
She said she was away for six weeks and came home to a shocking bill. She was forced to pay $500 more than her actual usage in November 2025 and the amount has only grown since then.
“The meter reading is not right because now my bill is $3,365,” she said.
“Why are they not paying me interest? I’m not a bank but I feel like one.”
The utility said the number of customers not paying their bills is double the usual average at around eight per cent.
For Chris Benjamin from the Affordable Energy Coalition, that comes as no surprise. The advocate said nearly half of Nova Scotia households are experiencing energy poverty, which is one of the highest rates in the country.
“People just can’t afford to pay the bills, and so they have to make impossible choices between turning the heat off and freezing through the night, or sacrificing paying for their medicines, or making food runs when they need groceries,” he said.
Nova Scotia’s energy regulator, the Nova Scotia Energy Board, is planning a two-part inquiry into the cyberattack.
And earlier this week, the company announced it was naming a new CEO.
Through it all, Nova Scotia Power is currently requesting an eight per cent rate hike from the Nova Scotia Energy Board.
If approved, the first 3.8 per cent increase would be effective retroactive to Jan. 1 and the second 4.1 per cent hike would come into effect Jan. 1, 2027.
For Allenby, something’s got to give.
“You want to keep the roof over your head first and foremost, but if that’s all you’re doing, what kind of life is that?” he said.
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