New legislation would allow government to set energy efficiency targets for N.B. Power

A piece of legislation introduced last week would allow the government to set energy efficiency targets for N.B. Power and create a fund to administer efficiency programs for non-electrified forms of home heating, addressing an item from the province’s six-year-old Climate Change Action Plan.

The amendments would clear red tape that has prevented the movement on action item 33 of the plan, which called for the implementation of an energy efficiency target of a 1.5 to 1.75 per cent per year decrease in power sales, but has remained unfulfilled since the plan’s release in 2016.

The six-year delay on the implementation of energy efficiency targets was noted by auditor general Paul Martin in a February report, which found that regulatory red tape was standing in the way.

When asked by the auditor general’s office why targets had yet to be introduced, the department of natural resources said “it was not in a position to mandate N.B. Power with the implementation of Item 33 and to set energy saving targets” because of a lack of sustainable funding for non-electric efficiency programs.

N.B. Power told the auditor general that it was not allowed by law to fund non-electric programs with the funds raised from rate-payers and that a third party would be needed to administer those programs.

But this new legislation looks to clear that hurdle by creating a fund specifically for non-electric efficiency programs.

“Whatever the means with which you use to heat your home, I want to have an efficiency program for it,” said Natural Resources Minister Mike Holland.

“This is adding a complement to what currently exists, which needs to continue to work and get better, but at the end of the day we’ll have a full complement.”

According to the Department of Natural Resources, about 20 per cent of New Brunswickers heat their homes using natural gas, heating oil, propane or biomass, though that number is expected to fall in the coming years as things like carbon pricing increase the cost. But for now, the department wants to create programs to help households use less of it.

Holland said N.B. Power will remain responsible for electricity-based energy efficiency programs, but the department hopes to begin funding non-electric programs with next year’s budget. He said regulations setting energy efficiency targets for the utility can also be expected next year.

“This is going to be in conjunction with a look at what capacity is here, what the opportunity is here, the needs and then of course running it against other jurisdictions and finding out what we can do and put something together that will make some forward progress,” Holland said.

Advocates are happy to see targets being looked at, but want the targets to be stringent enough to force real movement on energy efficiency.

“We obviously want to see a target set that is going to drive real investment,” said Louise Comeau of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick.

She’s hoping to see the target set somewhere between two and three per cent.

“There’s lots of room for improvement,” Comeau said.

“And of course, everything you do when you invest in energy efficiency saves households and businesses money.”

According to N.B. Power spokesperson Marc Belliveau, the utility saw a two per cent decrease in electricity sales between 2019-20 and 2020-21, but says sales are “very much tied to weather.”

In his report, Martin found that while N.B. Power was effectively administering its existing programs, access to those programs remained limited based on the requirement to foot the upfront cost of retrofits.

The Crown corporation does have a specific low-income program that funds 100 per cent of the costs of a retrofit, which saw 499 homes receive upgrades in 2020-21, but the Total Home Energy Savings Program requires homeowners to spend first and before getting reimbursed.

Comeau hopes mandated targets will see those gaps addressed.

“We need to expand the criteria that we have, expand the incentive that we have,” she said.

“We’ve left out moderate-income households. There needs to be some consideration of grants that kind of scale up and down based on your need.”