N.S. private utility gets earful from public over plan to raise electricity prices

Household income is stagnant, the utility's power grid is unreliable, and public trust in the corporation is at an all-time low in the aftermath of an April cybersecurity breach, Opposition NDP Leader Claudia Chender told the province's energy board on Wednesday.

"Nova Scotians have no trust in Nova Scotia Power right now, and it’s not hard to understand why," Chender said on the first day of hearings into the utility's proposal to raise residential rates by about eight per cent by next year. 

Residents, Chender said, are still dealing with the fallout from a cybersecurity breach that may have affected all 550,000 of the utility's customers. The president of Nova Scotia Power has previously said a Russia-based actor is likely behind the attack.

"Following a data breach that saw Nova Scotia Power fail to protect people’s personal information, including social insurance numbers that the company never should have had to begin with, people are dealing with estimated bills double and triple what they actually owe," Chender said. The NDP leader was referring to complaints from customers who had said they were overbilled following the attack.

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