Latest news with #NovaScotiaPower
CTV News
6 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
NS Power gets Fisheries Act approval for Ruth Falls dam refurbishment project
Five years after making its initial application, Nova Scotia Power has received Fisheries Act authorization for its Ruth Falls dam refurbishment project, but it will need to resubmit a request to the provincial energy board to secure necessary funds for the work. The utility is seeking approval for an extra $8.2 million for the dam project in Sheet Harbour through an overspending application, but last week the Nova Scotia Energy Board ruled it would hold off on that request until Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) provided a Fisheries Act authorization. The written decision from the board noted that Nova Scotia Power applied for the authorization in December 2019, but received a response in March 2020 that outlined 'significant additional work required based on DFO's conclusion that the proposed activities were likely to harm fish and fish habitat.' The utility made further submissions from August 2020 to September 2023. It made its most recent submission last February. According to the Government of Canada website, the Ruth Falls dam project received the necessary Fisheries Act authorization on June 17. 'A drawdown of the Ruth Falls Headpond, approximately 18 feet below minimum operating level, will begin on or after July 21, 2025, with no upstream fish passage until the reservoir is rewatered by April 1, 2026,' the website reads. 'The 9-month project will permanently impact about 60 m² of fish habitat and temporarily disrupt 1.15 km² due to the drawdown.' Following the approval, the utility can now submit an amended authorization to overspend application to the energy board. Nova Scotia Power says the dam upgrades include: building a new steel walkway platform along the length of the dam improving the upstream fishway resurfacing the concrete spillway surface replacing 30 stoplog bays with seven rubber dam sections The project is expected to add 50 years to the dam, which was built in 1925. In its original application to the Nova Scotia Energy Board, the utility said the project – which was originally earmarked for $7.2 million – is now expected to cost $15.4 million. It cited the issues obtaining the environmental permits and the extended construction timeline as reasons for the added costs. For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
CBC
25-06-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Could Nova Scotia Power revert to public ownership again?
Nova Scotia Power was privatized in 1992 by the Progressive Conservative government of Premier Donald Cameron in a move viewed as a way to control the province's deficits and debt servicing costs. In the wake of a massive data breach that affected the utility this spring, there have been renewed calls from some people for the province to buy back the utility and make it provincially owned once again. There is precedent for power utilities being removed from private ownership in the United States. Ursula Schryver is a senior vice-president at the American Public Power Association that represents publicly owned utilities throughout the U.S., with more than 55 million customers. She spoke to CBC Radio's Information Morning Nova Scotia about the process of returning a utility to public hands and the challenges involved. Their conversation has been edited for clarity and length. Q: You refer to the process of making a power utility into a public not-for-profit as "municipalization." What are the advantages of municipalizing a utility? The overarching benefit and tenant of public power is local control and local decision-making. With public power utilities, the community and citizens have input on the priorities of the utility, whether that be investing in upgrades to the system, keeping rates low, or adding more renewable energy to their portfolio, or really just providing whatever services the community desires. Public power utilities are governed by local elected officials, either city councils or elected or appointed utility boards. So citizens have a say in how the utility is operated. They can participate in public meetings or even vote the elected officials in and out of office if the utility isn't being run in a way that reflects community priorities. That typically leads to lower rates because you don't have stockholders where you're sending money away. All the money goes back into the community. Public power utilities have high reliability because the crews live and work in the community. Q: What has to happen to municipalize a utility especially given that the current owner may not want to give it up? Typically the municipalization effort starts with a leader or a group of individuals that pushes forth the idea because of dissatisfaction with the status quo. So then a community will do a feasibility study to look at whether it is financially feasible. Could it make sense? Is it financially feasible? Is it legally possible? Then they look at the evaluation of the system to determine how much the system is worth. At that point there is a lot of community education just to get people to understand what the purpose is and what the benefits are. And then there will typically be a referendum where people decide, vote whether to continue on. Q: What are some cons that might come up to counterbalance the benefits? The biggest drawback and challenge is the industrial utility not being a willing seller and fighting the effort. And they will, they'll spend a lot of money and the process will be dragged out through legal proceedings. Because obviously if the community takes over the utility, that is lost revenue, lost customers for the investor utility. So the biggest drawback is it takes years for these efforts to come to fruition. But you know, there have been 20 utilities that have formed in the last 25 years. So it happens. It just takes time, it takes commitment and a willingness of the community to really understand what the benefits are and evaluate it appropriately. Q: Have some of these municipal utilities run into debt issues or have had to increase rates monumentally? Those are two things that come up whenever people muse about turning Nova Scotia Power back into a public utility. Having a public power utility allows you to focus on the issues that are most important to your community. So if keeping rates low is a priority, then that will be the been situations like Winter Park, Fla., formed 20 years ago now and they had issues with reliability. So when they took over the system, they invested the money back into the system. They moved their lines underground and really focused on the reliability. Other communities are looking at environmental efforts or renewable energy. So they invest their money there. And so maybe there it may go up a little bit. It really depends on the interests of the community and what you want your focus to be.
Global News
25-06-2025
- Business
- Global News
NS Power expands offer of free credit monitoring for customers after cyberattack
See more sharing options Send this page to someone via email Share this item on Twitter Share this item via WhatsApp Share this item on Facebook Nova Scotia Power says it is offering five years of free credit monitoring to all past and current customers in response to a recent cyberattack. The private utility had initially offered two free years of monitoring, following a March cybersecurity breach that gave thieves access to personal data belonging to 280,000 ratepayers — about half its customers. 1:55 How to protect private info in light of Nova Scotia Power data breach Nova Scotia Power has said the attackers had asked for a ransom in exchange for them not selling the stolen data. Story continues below advertisement The utility has said it refused to pay the ransom. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Nova Scotia Power says it is working to determine the full scope of the data theft but has confirmed about 140,000 social insurance numbers were taken along with driver's licence numbers, names, addresses and emails. The utility says it no longer asks customers for social insurance numbers to authenticate their identities, and has deleted the numbers from records. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 25, 2025.
CBC
25-06-2025
- Business
- CBC
Nova Scotia Power to expand credit monitoring to all customers, past and present
Nova Scotia Power is expanding its offering of free credit monitoring in the wake of a massive cybersecurity breach that resulted in the data of hundreds of thousands of customers being stolen by hackers. The company is now providing five years of credit monitoring, up from the two years that were initially offered. People who have already signed up will have their service automatically extended. The utility also announced it will pay for monitoring for all its customers, past and present, instead of just the customers who were believed to have been affected. An update on the company's website Wednesday said the information of former customers was also taken — not just that of current customers. Nova Scotia Power announced publicly on April 28 that it was dealing with a cybersecurity incident it discovered three days earlier, on April 25. The company later said the actual hack had occurred more than a month earlier, on March 19. About 280,000 customers have been affected by the attack — about half of the utility's total customers. The company said in its update it is still trying to determine the full scope of data that was accessed, but it "cannot rule out the possibility" that the stolen information includes name, date of birth, bank account number, social insurance number, driver's licence number, phone number, email address, mailing and service address, and customer account information. The company also said it has "heard concerns" about social insurance numbers, which Nova Scotia Power "historically collected for customer authentication purposes." "We are committed to permanently deleting all instances of SINs from our systems as soon as our investigation allows," the statement said.
CTV News
25-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Nova Scotia Power says former customers also impacted by breach, extends credit monitoring
Nova Scotia Power says it appears the hackers behind a recent cybersecurity breach also accessed the personal information of former customers. As a result, the utility is now offering five years of free credit monitoring to all customers – both past and present – whether or not they received a letter about the cybersecurity breach. 'We have determined through our investigation that the personal information of former customers was also accessed on or around March 19, 2025, and later taken by an unauthorized third party, in addition to the personal information of the current customers to whom notifications have already been sent,' said Nova Scotia Power in a statement Wednesday. 'Customers will not pay for any costs incurred by Nova Scotia Power for credit monitoring resulting from this incident.' Nova Scotia Power says a dedicated team within the utility is working with third-party cybersecurity experts to investigate the ransomware attack. It says the personal information of former customers, including names, phone numbers, email address and mailing addresses, may have been compromised. 'For some of our former customers, bank account numbers (for pre-authorized payment) and Social Insurance Numbers may also have been impacted,' said the utility. 'We intend to do everything we can to support current and former customers, which includes expanded access to credit monitoring.' Anyone who has already signed up for credit monitoring will automatically be extended to receive the service for five years. Former and current customers who wish to sign up for the credit monitoring service can go online to validate and secure a unique code. Nova Scotia Power said it's also deploying employee volunteers to communities across the province to provide support for customers who prefer assistance in person. Nova Scotia Power will delete all SINs The utility says people have expressed concerns about having social insurance numbers (SINs) on file, so it will be deleting that information from its systems. 'We have heard concerns about SINs, which we historically collected for customer authentication purposes,' said Nova Scotia Power. 'We are committed to permanently deleting all instances of SINs from our systems as soon as our investigation allows.' For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
