NB Power improves after internal review, says residents need to better prepare

FREDERICTON, N.B. – The province’s energy utility says they’ve made improvements in the wake of this year’s many storms.

But the crown corporation isn’t taking all of the blame for lengthy weather-related outages, shifting some of the onus onto residents, asking that they be better prepared.

In December, more than 82,000 customers were without power after an ice storm hit the province over the holidays.

About 50,000 were impacted when more snow and ice were dumped on the province in the spring.

Finally, post-tropical storm Arthur left 140,000 people in the dark at its peak.

“I tell you, these guys work hard. And don’t think that Gaëtan (Thomas) has a switch in his office and he can put power back on in a minute,” said Energy Minister Donald Arseneault during a safety demonstration Thursday.

There has been no inquiry into why the outages were so widespread, or lasted so long, in New Brunswick.

In Nova Scotia, the government called for an external review of their utility after Arthur. Nova Scotia Power’s CEO apologized for the slow response.

“I frankly believe our communication system, tech system did not work and stay up to the standard we are used to, for that I apologize,” said NSP CEO Bob Hanf on July 9.

READ MORE: Board begins N.S. Power review into Arthur cleanup, N.B. Premier says no formal review needed

In New Brunswick there has been little pressure from government to review NB Power’s performance.

“From what I’ve seen so far in the month that I’ve been Minister of Energy that these guys are working so hard to make sure we’re going to minimize the impact as much as we can,” Arseneault said.

Instead, an internal review was conducted by the utility. CEO Gaëtan Thomas said communication has improved within the utility and between external groups, like EMO.

There are also new maps posted on the web site to show where power outages are across the province.

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“What I can tell you is that we always welcome reviews and we are very, very hard on ourselves,” said CEO Gaëtan Thomas.

Thomas also spoke of things residents can do to better prepare.

“If you don’t have city water, if there’s an upcoming storm, you can fill your bathtub,” he said. “Keep the freezers and fridge closed, a lot of little things to do to avoid some of the issues we faced earlier.

“The weather is changing.”