The premier of Nova Scotia Premier says his government is triggering a review into how the province’s major power utility earns its income in order to see whether this leads to better service and accountability.
Houston, who is also minister of energy, tabled a bill that would require the Nova Scotia Energy Board to begin the review of Nova Scotia Power.
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The review would examine a performance-based regulation for the utility.
Houston says many Nova Scotians feel they aren’t getting good value for what they pay in electricity costs.
He adds he wants to examine whether changing how the utility earns its income could improve services and accountability.
The legislation says a performance-based regulation would link a portion of a utility’s revenues, earnings, incentives or penalties to measurable outcomes such as reliability, emissions reduction and customer service.
The government says the regulation could create incentives for the company to meet targets and trigger penalties for poor performance.
The government also proposes to begin the review 30 days after the law comes into effect, and to publish the final report.
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