Picketers at NB Power’s Fredericton headquarters on Thursday said the government is not doing enough to help the thousands of New Brunswickers struggling to pay their electricity bill.
The 2025 report on energy poverty from the Human Development Council found that more than 37,000 households in the province experience both low income and high energy burden, a rate nearly double the national average.
NB ACORN chair Nichola Taylor organized the picket because she said the government is not doing enough to help these people. “First of all, the announcement that the CEO is getting a huge pay rise while everybody else is paying huge rate increases … it just doesn’t make sense.”
In August, the cabinet approved a 14 per cent pay hike for NB Power CEO Lori Clark, who now earns $623,653.
ACORN’s main demand is for a rebate program specifically geared towards low-income earners, similar to one that exists in Ontario. The Ontario Electricity Support Program provides monthly credit towards the electricity bills of eligible customers.
As the season turns and colder weather approaches, New Brunswick renters are especially vulnerable. ACORN wants the ban on power disconnections in winter for eligible households, introduced as a temporary measure last winter, to be made permanent, and for more options to forgive debt for ratepayers in difficulty.
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Nadia Savoie and Ty McCluskey, students in Fredericton on the picket, live in a single-family home built in the 1970s that is not well-insulated. The NB Power bill cuts into their student loan, they said. Protester Hany Sherif added that the power bills keep rising with “no justification.”
The ACORN picket happened two days after another unplanned power outage at the Point Lepreau nuclear plant with a likely cost of $50 million. An analysis published in the Telegraph-Journal suggests that the latest nuclear plant outage will cost an average of $127 for each NB Power customer.
ACORN’s Taylor said if the nuclear plant’s problems mean that rates will continue to rise, “this is a massive problem, and they need better solutions which they are clearly not doing right now.”
NB Power has previously stated that it is “committed to providing safe, reliable energy for our customers while keeping rates as low as possible” and that its goal “is always to work with customers to avoid disconnecting service.”
The utility has recommended that customers unable to pay reach out to NB Power’s Customer Care team to “explore financial assistance programs and find a solution that avoids disconnection.”
Susan O’Donnell is a member of the NB Media Co-op board of directors.
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