New Brunswick’s surplus power sales to U.S. could close Irving Paper, firm warns

New Brunswick’s Crown-owned electric utility is being criticized for changing its policy on the sale of excess power.

Forestry giant J.D. Irving Ltd. executive Mark Mosher says his company and others used to purchase NB Power’s surplus electricity at discounted rates.

But earlier this year, the provincial regulator started allowing the utility to sell that surplus power to customers in the United States and other out-of-province customers at market prices.

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Mosher says the policy change could drive up power costs for JDI Irving Ltd. subsidiary Irving Paper by an estimated $10 million annually and cause it to close.

He says that is because NB Power changed its priority rules to sell its cheaper surplus electricity to outside buyers first, forcing in-province industries to rely on more expensive excess power.

Meanwhile, Energy Minister Rene Legacy says the government can reverse the decision but won’t because it benefits other NB Power customers.

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Legacy adds that the Liberal government won’t intervene in J.D. Irving Ltd.’s recent application to the regulator to reverse the request.

“We will see what the process is once the (Energy and Utilities Board) reviews what JDI has requested,” Legacy said in the provincial legislature earlier this week.