国产诱惑福利

The Nova Scotia Energy Board has decided that a separate investigation will look at how the utility collected and stored customer data and how it estimated bills after losing communication with power meters.

The plans for the two probes are the latest in a nearly year-long crisis at Nova Scotia Power which has faced a barrage of complaints, legal threats and a separate investigation by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada due to the cyberattack.

Politicians have said some of their constituents' power bills have spiked since the attack, and Premier Tim Houston has criticized the utility over inflated bills and reports of consecutive charges within short periods. The premier, also the provincial energy minister, wrote to the energy board in December pushing for a separate inquiry on those matters.聽

The premier鈥檚 communications director, Stephen Moore, said in an email that Nova Scotia Power must be held accountable for its response. He said there鈥檚 still no clarity around how the estimated bills were calculated and there鈥檚 been no urgency to correct them. He said the utility has caused confusion, financial strain and a loss of public confidence in the power system.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e leaving many customers in the dark. This is unacceptable. Nova Scotians deserve better,鈥� wrote Moore.

鈥淲e鈥檙e not satisfied on any front. That鈥檚 why, as energy minister, the premier called on the energy board to launch a formal investigation into billing practices, work to get all systems back online and protections and support for customers. This matter deserves as much scrutiny as the cybersecurity incident itself in order to hold Nova Scotia Power to account."

Utility officials said last week that the system estimates bills based on 鈥渨arm鈥� months and 鈥渃old鈥� months. They said November marked the start of cold month estimates, causing a sudden spike in projected bills instead of the gradual increase customers would usually see as temperatures dip through the fall.

The Emera Inc.-owned company said Monday that it welcomes the hearings and will fully co-operate with the energy board as well as the federal privacy commissioner. The utility notes it has been providing monthly updates to the energy board.聽

鈥淲e are fully committed to transparency and have been keeping our customers and regulators regularly informed since the cyber incident occurred,鈥� spokesperson Jacqueline Foster said in an email.

The main provincial inquiry will look into the utility鈥檚 cybersecurity assets, policies, planning and training before the attack as well as its technical response, recovery actions and security enhancements it has made in the last year. Hearings are not yet scheduled.

The second inquiry will be focused on the premier鈥檚 concerns and examine how Nova Scotia Power collected and stored customer information, what it did to protect ratepayers from fraud and identity theft, billing estimates, communications with customers and business impacts. That inquiry is scheduled to hear from witnesses in July.

The utility also faces a potential court battle with its customers.

In December, Halifax-based MacGillivray Injury and Insurance Law filed a proposed class action in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia alleging data governance breakdowns, utility-wide responsiveness failures and inaccurate billing impacting hundreds of thousands of customers.

Meantime, customer rates are likely on the rise.

The power utility has proposed residential rate increases of about eight per cent by next year. If approved, the first 3.8 per cent increase would be effective retroactive to Jan. 1, and the second 4.1 per cent hike would come into effect Jan. 1, 2027.

The allegations have not yet been tested in court.

This report by 国产诱惑福利 was first published Feb. 9, 2026.