Tantramar diesel plant is a deal New Brunswick can’t afford

New Brunswickers have been told that they’re facing a simple choice: a new gas and diesel plant in Tantramar or blackouts.

It’s a powerful story that’s meant to shut down debate. It plays on fear, and it’s meant to make this massive, long-term fossil fuel project feel inevitable.

But after watching the recent Energy and Utilities Board (EUB) hearings on the plant, it’s clear we are being presented with only one solution—the fastest and most familiar one for NB Power.

This project is not unavoidable, like the utility claims. It’s a choice, and that choice will shape power bills, public health and our climate future for decades.

A public utility should not be hiding the public price tag

NB Power is a public utility that belongs to all New Brunswickers. So, as a ratepayer, you deserve to know what you’re being asked to pay for.

Yet at the hearings, NB Power would not share even a rough estimate of what the Tantramar project could cost over the next 25 years.

Utility executives acknowledged it would cost more than $1 billion just to build the plant, but that figure does not include decades of volatile fuel prices, operating costs, maintenance or financing.

This lack of transparency is a big problem.

The public can’t decide whether this project is in their best interest if they don’t actually know the full costs. This isn’t a private business deal. This decision will affect household bills across the province.

Power hikes coming

We do know this plant will cost New Brunswickers. Documents filed with the EUB show NB Power estimated the project could raise rates by nearly five per cent in the first full year of operation.

This comes at a time when New Brunswick already has some of the highest rates of energy poverty in Canada. NB Power has already raised residential electricity rates by nearly 30 per cent over the past three years and is proposing an additional 4.75 per cent increase effective April 1.

Now, NB Power is rushing this plant, and it will lead to even higher electricity rates, putting more pressure on families struggling to keep up with rent, groceries and heating costs. Seniors are stretched, and renters often have little control over insulation and efficiency, but they still have to pay power bills.

Reliability matters, but affordability matters too. NB Power argues this plant is needed to avoid blackouts, yet rising electricity costs can also leave people without power. When households can’t afford their bills, the lights go out just the same.

The easiest solution for NB Power, not New Brunswick

At the EUB hearings, NB Power executives suggested they chose this project, not because it was the best solution, but because it was easier than trying several smaller measures at once.

That is a serious admission, because we know there are better alternatives, they just may not be easier for executives at the public utility.

Right now, modern electricity grids are being built with a mix of solutions. Battery storage, demand response, renewables and grid flexibility are already being used. These are not futuristic ideas.

New Brunswick has an opportunity to learn from this and modernize. Instead, NB Power is pushing a technology of the past.

This is the core problem. NB Power appears to have a culture rooted in tradition rather than transformation. Too often, those traditions lead to decisions that are easiest for NB Power, not what is best for New Brunswickers.

New Brunswick can have reliability without locking into fossil fuels

No one is saying reliability does not matter. It does.

The question is whether New Brunswick is being offered the smartest path forward, or simply the fastest one.

New Brunswickers deserve transparency on the full costs. We deserve a real alternatives analysis. We deserve an energy plan that aligns with climate reality, not one that adds to the problem.

The EUB now has an important decision to make.

If the board decides this project is not prudent, the deal is cancelled. That would mean regulators carefully assessed the risks and costs and concluded that this is not the right investment for this province. This would allow New Brunswick to pursue better alternatives, such as battery energy storage, wind, solar and demand-side management.

If the EUB decides the project is prudent, the plant moves ahead. That means New Brunswickers are tied to a 25-year commitment to fossil fuels, with costs that will show up on monthly power bills and lasting environmental consequences.

Whatever the outcome, the hearings made one thing loud and clear: New Brunswick does not have to settle for old solutions that come with long-term costs. We can build a cleaner, more affordable, more resilient energy system that sets New Brunswick on a path toward long-term energy security and a sustainable future.

That starts with telling the truth about this project, and demanding better from the utility that belongs to all of us.

Beverly Gingras is the executive director of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick.