David Coon
Commentary

Now that the deal with Hydro-Québec has been abandoned, we're back where we started. The problems at the people's power company remain as challenging as ever.

NB Power's decision to refurbish the Coleson Cove oil-fired power plant and the Point Lepreau nuclear power plant bedevil us.

The current system depends on burning coal and oil in the winter to power our baseboard heaters. Our predilection for electric heating means NB Power has to maintain nearly 50-per-cent more generating capacity than it requires for the rest of the year. All this fossil capacity is also used to provide back-up power to the Point Lepreau nuclear plant whenever it's forced to shut down. It's these nuclear and fossil plants that are driving power rates up.

In Point Lepreau's case, we still have to pay off debt accumulated during its first lifetime. We have to squirrel money away to pay for its decommissioning, as well as to isolate its radioactive waste from the environment and the evil-doers forever. We have to pay off the debt incurred for its plodding and problem-plagued refurbishment, and for future repairs, which are as inevitable as they are expensive.

Point Lepreau's ultimate impact on power rates will depend on how reliably and how long the reconditioned nuclear power plant operates, if it does. The first time around, the reliability of Point Lepreau declined significantly after only a dozen years and then wore out prematurely, turning the nuclear plant into a money loser. The second time around Point Lepreau looked too much like a crap shoot for Hydro-Québec, so they bailed.

In the case of the oil-fired power plant at Coleson Cove, it's plagued by the rising costs of oil and the loss of its export sales. NB Power paid closed to $1 billion to refurbish the plant, money that it is unlikely to be recouped as the oil-fired power plant lies idle for much of the year. We only need it to run our baseboard heaters during the coldest month. The rest of the time it is hibernating, as its former U.S. customers shun its costly and carbon-spewing power.

Much has been made about the impact of political interference on NB Power, however, the proposals to refurbish Coleson Cove and Point Lepreau came from inside the public utility. The planned refurbishments were embraced by the Conservative government of the day and cheered on by the Liberal opposition. They were not imposed on NB Power from the outside. Had our political leaders at the time recognized the opportunity to chart a new course for our public utility, we would not be wringing our hands about NB Power debt or rate shock.

Ratepayers and taxpayers are stuck with the consequences of these unfortunate decisions, but that doesn't mean power bills have to go through the roof. While the media is fixated on rising power rates, it's really the size of the power bill that matters. And that's something that can be frozen or even cut in the face of rising power rates.

A full-court press to cut the demand for power is the only thing that will protect New Brunswickers and business from ballooning power rates. It's not the rate you pay, but the amount you consume that has the biggest impact on you power bill. Reduce your consumption, and zap, your power costs can be frozen or even lowered in the face of rising power rates

Demand for power can be substantially cut through energy efficiency improvements and conservation. A sizeable increase in Efficiency New Brunswick's workforce and budget would provide more families and businesses with the means to retrofit their homes, buildings and equipment, saving them money and buffering them against future power rate increases.

Demand for power can also be cut by breaking our dependence on electric heating. Most new buildings and homes continue to be built with electric heat. This must stop. We have abundant renewable energy sources such as wood pellets, geothermal, solar, and in urban settings, waste heat which can provide space and water heating. Natural gas, while still a fossil fuel, is a cleaner heating source than electric baseboards powered by coal and oil.

Existing homes and buildings can reduce their dependence on electric heat with supplementary heaters fuelled by wood pellets or solar, and in some cases eliminate it altogether by converting to wood pellets or natural gas. Light industry and commercial and institutional buildings have the option of generating both heat and electricity through combined heat and power technologies such as fuel cells run off natural gas or cogeneration systems, which use wood chips or natural gas. Natural gas emissions can be reduced with the innovative carbon-saver technology developed here in New Brunswick.

Shrinking the scale of our energy demand and ending our addiction to electric heat need to be pillars of a new energy policy.

On the supply side of the equation, the sources of electricity that offer the greatest rate stability are renewable sources. Wind, rainfall and sunshine are free for the taking. Bioenergy is not subject to world oil prices. The technologies used to harness renewable sources of energy do not carry the financial or environmental risks and liabilities of nuclear power plants. They don't require expensive paramilitary security forces to watch over them, as is the case with Point Lepreau. And they don't contribute to climate change.

NB Power needs to be given the mandate to lead New Brunswick into a renewable energy future. It should be building and owning wind farms and investing in community-owned renewable energy projects. It should expand the capacity of the Grand Falls hydroelectric station to increase its output of renewable power. And it should team up with the utilities in Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia to beat a path back to Québec to negotiate a long-term power purchase agreement with Hydro-Québec to accomplish two things: acquire access to a reasonable block of hydroelectricity at a fair cost and negotiate an adequate arrangement for back-up power to enable the Maritimes to expand its use of wind power.

Now that we've saved NB Power, it's time we put it to good use.

David Coon is the Executive Director of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick.