New Brunswick’s premier says her government is committed to a long-term sustainable model for NB Power.
Her comments come one day after the province announced it was removing the utility’s debt equity target.
Susan Holt said the move — just like the 10 per cent rebate on power bills — is a temporary solution to help customers in the short term.
“It’s the balance of providing support right now in the interim while we do the work over the next number of months to put in place the permanent changes that will stop kicking the can down the road,” Holt said Thursday.
RELATED: Province removes NB Power’s equity target date
On Wednesday, the province removed the 2029 target date for NB Power to meet its goal of 80 per cent debt to 20 per cent equity.
Officials said that while the move would not prevent rate increases from happening, it would lower rate increases by allowing the utility to lower required net earnings.
Holt was unable to say what the utility’s rate increase would look like without the debt equity target in place.
“We need to find ways to diminish the impact on New Brunswickers while we do the hard work of changing course, because we can’t continue the way we’ve been going,” she said.
“We have not seen progress on debt reduction, so we’re going to have to look at things differently, whether that’s partnerships or restructuring or any number of solutions.”
The province announced in April that it was undertaking a comprehensive independent review of NB Power, with final recommendations and any decisions expected by the end of March.