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Electricity rates across New Brunswick jumped 4.29 per cent early Tuesday following an order issued by the provincial Energy and Utilities Board.
The order directly affects all customers of N.B. Power, but the province’s three municipal utilities, including the largest, Saint John Energy, are adopting the same increase for themselves.
The three receive most of the electricity they resell to customers from N.B. Power.
“Effective April 14, 2026, Saint John Energy electricity rates will increase by 4.29 per cent,” the city-owned company posted on its website.
N.B. Power has raised rates on customers 34.9 per cent in four years in an effort to deal with its chronic financial problems. (Michael Heenan/CBC)
“The increase follows an order from the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board approving a 4.29 per cent increase to our wholesale electricity rates.”
The increase is the fourth awarded to N.B. Power in a row that exceeds the rate of inflation. Including “rate riders” attached to bills, the cost of electricity has risen 34.9 per cent since April 2023.
N.B. Power had applied for a 4.75 per cent increase for this year but in a decision released on April 1 after months of evidence gathering and two weeks of hearings the EUB listed a number of deficiencies in the application it wanted removed before setting final prices for the current fiscal year.
Saint John Energy, which buys $90 million worth of electricity from N.B. Power each year, announced it would be matching N.B. Power’s 4.29 per cent increase. (Robert Jones/CBC)
Over 12 days in early April, N.B. Power calculated the combined value of those deficiencies to be several million dollars, which it removed from its rate application.
That cleared the way for the EUB’s final ruling, which was issued on Monday.
“N.B. Power filed revised documentation in compliance with the Decision indicating … a rate increase of 4.29% applied uniformly across all customer classes,” the board wrote.
It approved the new rates to take effect within hours of the ruling, at midnight.
