FREDERICTON – As restoration efforts continue to turn lights on for the thousands of NB Power customers still in the dark, there is some worry of how this second ice storm will impact the crown utilities’ bottom line.
Clean-up costs for the ice storm that hit in December amounted to $12-million and the utility reported negative earnings of $15-million in their last financial quarter.
But this last ice storm hit on March 31, which means it will be added to NB Power’s upcoming fiscal year.
“Our finances indicate that we will finish with some earnings this year,” said NB Power spokesperson Deborah Nobes. “But there’s no doubt that this storm was a big impact.”
The storm in December saw 88,000 customers without power. Over 600 professionals worked for days to restore power, some crews coming from outside the province.
The most recent storm saw 75,000 restorations – meaning some residents had to have their power restored several times. Over 100 crews have been working on the outages, most in the Bouctouche and Shediac areas.
“This storm will be factored into next year’s financial picture. So for the year past, the winter that everyone’s thinking about, the ice storm over December was really the big one,” Nobes said.
While the utility still predicts a positive year, Premier David Alward admits this winter has caused some unsettling financial issues.
“You see the impact that it had on the grid system. So it’s certainly concerning. This is the second major ice storm we’ve seen this winter and it’s affected different parts of the province,” he said. “Long-term, anytime we have this sort of weather, ice storms or floods, it’s concerning on all of us.”
Comments