Energy price hikes coming down the pipeline have Minas Basin Pulp and Power with tied hands. A proposed 17.2% incre…
Energy price hikes coming down the pipeline have Minas Basin Pulp and Power with tied hands. A proposed 17.2% increase for industrial customers has industry in the Maritimes clamoring for reprieve.
According to Canadian Press, Minas Basin CEO Scott Travers is at a loss for a way to deal with the stifling electricity costs. “It’s one more nail in the coffin,” the news service reported him as saying. “We’ve made all the internal changes we can possibly makeThere’s nothing we can do to lessen the blow or pass it on.”
Canadian Press further reported that Nova Scotia Power is pressing for the hikes so it will bring in an additional $159.7 million in revenues in 2006 to help it offset higher coal, petroleum coke and natural gas costs.
However, Minas Basin Pulp and Power, along with other members of the Electricity Consumers Alliance of Nova Scotia, contends the numbers don’t jive. According to CP, the alliance thinks it can slash a minimum of $30 to $45 million from this year’s demands.
The alliance is arguing that a failure on behalf of NSPI to secure acceptable prices for coal and fuel should not be the responsibility of industry, and that money for an energy conservation awareness campaign should not be passed off in the form of higher energy prices for Maritime industries.
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