https://twitter.com/DavidRayAmos/with_replies




David Raymond Amos‏ @DavidRayAmos
Replying to @DavidRayAmos @alllibertynews and 49 others
Methinks its high time folks thank Dr. Roger Richard who has been working very diligently and at great expense before the EUB defending our interests against NB Power's nonsense N'esy Pas?



https://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2020/07/nb-power-finances-suffered-657m-hit-in.html



 #nbpoli#cdnpoli





https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/nb-power-earning-report-covid-19-1.5654175

NB Power finances suffered $65.7M hit in March from COVID-19

Utility missed earnings target for 5th straight year after markets tumbled days before its fiscal year ended

Robert Jones· CBC News· Posted: Jul 17, 2020 5:59 PM AT



NB Power's loss of $16 million in its latest fiscal year is the fifth year in a row the utility has seen its earnings fall below expectations. (CBC)

NB Power is reporting it lost $16 million in its latest fiscal year, a victim of the COVID-19  economic meltdown in March that ravaged its finances in a matter of days.

The utility had told the province to expect a $49.7-million profit for the fiscal year ending on March 31 — a figure New Brunswick Finance Minister Ernie Steeves used in his March 10 budget — but 21 days later, $65.7 million had evaporated and NB Power's accounts suddenly tumbled into the red.

"It was the instability of the financial markets in February and March 2020, largely as a result of the pandemic, that drove this reduction," said new NB Power president Keith Cronkhite in a statement in the utility's annual report released Friday.

Cronkhite was only named president on March 30, succeeding former president Gaëtan Thomas one day before the fiscal year ended.


Finance Minister Ernie Steeves announced on March 10 the province was headed for a $97.7-million budget surplus for the fiscal year ended March 31, but that depended on NB Power turning a $49.7-million profit. The utility's $16-million loss will show up when Steeves issues final financial statements later this summer. (Mike Heenan/CBC)

NB Power chair Ed Barrett was philosophical about the unfortunate turn of events in his own statement.

"It is remarkable that what we may remember most about 2019/20 are the events that surfaced just as NB Power's fiscal year was drawing to a close."

It's the fifth year in a row NB Power has failed to meet its earnings target although the problem this time was financial, not operational.
NB Power has more than $700 million invested in funds to pay for the eventual decommissioning of the Point Lepreau nuclear generating station and management of spent nuclear fuel.

The money is managed by Vestcor, the Fredericton investment entity that handles New Brunswick government employee pension funds, and a steep collapse in global financial markets that began in late February was behind most of NB Power's losses, according to the account in its annual report.


NB Power's loss was caused by a March meltdown in financial markets, not operational problems, as its nuclear decommissioning investments were hammered. (Richard Drew/The Associated Press)

"The instability of the financial markets largely as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic, led to a significant decrease in the gains on the investments year-over-year and was the primary driver of this unfavourable variance."

No one from the utility was made available to speak about the financial results Friday, but the loss will have a significant impact on New Brunswick's own fiscal year financial results which will be reported later this summer.

The province had projected a $97.7-million budget surplus for the year ended March 31, 2020, but the setback at NB Power will spill onto its books and erase two thirds of that.

A budget surplus the province had been projecting for 2021 has already been downgraded to a $343-million deficit.






73 Comments
Commenting is now closed for this story.




David Amos
Methinks everybody knows why KPMG and I are not surprised N'esy Pas? 










David Amos
Cronkhite was only named president on March 30, succeeding former president Gaëtan Thomas one day before the fiscal year ended."

Methinks Higgy et al forgot to inform folks that one of the last things Gaëtan Thomas did was write a letter to the EUB in order to beg them not to come to a decision about NB Power's second bid for Not So Smart Meters anytime soon Now you know why N'esy Pas?























David Amos
Methinks its high time that folks thank my friend Roger Richard who has been working very diligently and spending a lot of his own money for nearly 3 years appearing before the EUB defending our interests against NB Power's nonsense N'esy Pas?



Roger Richard
Reply to @David Amos: Right now Emera is asking for TOU rates in Nova Scotia.


David Amos 


Roger Richard
Reply to @David Amos: Yes, in several publications.






















Fred Dee
how many employees were PAID to stay home and not work?? How many are still getting this FULL pay with benefits for staying home and doing nothing!!???

Here is a way that $$ should have been saved!!


David Amos  


























Lou Bell
Love these people stating " Tesla stocks are up " or " Gold is up " ! Did THEY put all their money in either ? Quit lookin' back at your MISSED OPPORTUNITIES and intimating it's only others that missed them !


David Amos 


























Ben Haroldson
I'll bet the executive bonuses didn't take a hit, in fact they were probably topped up by the feds.


David Amos 


























Corrie Weatherfield
"LOSS" only occurs in an investment account when you sell at a lower price than the price at which you bought . . . how does this show up as a "loss" ? If a $700 million investment account waiting to be used some years in the future goes down in market value, what sort of accountant records that as a loss in the current year? Let us not expect an answer . . . the sort of accountants that manage the finances of NBPower and of the govt have proven themselves many times to be better with words than with numbers.


Ben Haroldson 

Terry Tibbs
Buckle up buttercups, we have been publicly given "the BIG excuse", for a total and thorough hosing.


David Amos  






























janice small
Wheres Kevin Cormier when you need him ????


Fred Brewer 






























Carroll Cameron
This shortfall is rather easy to overcome for now and the future, and quell the resident whiners n detractors of the power commision that live on CBC forums, and that is remove the EUB and leave the power commision alone. Allow it to turn a profit by charging the people of NB what the real cost of power is. Then they'll have the money to make a real dent in their accumulated debt as the years go by.
Sounds like a good plan to get the comm. into the black. It should satisfy everyone that craves the comm turning a profit and it.....Oh Wait!


David Peters  


























Fred Brewer
NB Power's investment losses began in February. Well, if they had invested in Tesla on Jan 31, they would have more than doubled their money. The future is in electric vehicles and renewable energy but none are so blind as those who do not want to see.


David Peters  

Bill Henry
"It was the instability of the financial markets in February and March 2020“ wait, what? So it is a paper loss on an investment that is not expected to be used until years from now?



























eddy watts
If people thought being shut-down for as long as NB has been, (trying to keep it's death by covid below .001).........that any "opening" would be painless, you are in for a huge shock; and don't expect the feds to throw $$$ at the province, as there are others, who in many cases have been open longer, needing help.


David Amos 



























Don Smith
Sounds more like we have been put on notice for a rate hike or worse SMART METERS!


David Amos 



























Terry Tibbs
We have a situation where most folks are sitting home entertaining themselves, so somehow, we are to believe usage is down, and it's not like one single residential user gets any special deals. Yet losing money is supposedly what happened? Right.


David Amos 

Norman Albert Snr
Guess that would have something to do with the call I got today not allowing incentive grants for upgrade during a Pandemic


David Amos 



























Lou Bell
So really , the loss should already be mostly made up by now if one understands the markets and where they stand today . I have a suspicion there's more to this than just those investments !


James Vander 






https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/nb-point-lepreau-nuclear-plant-running-like-newborn-1.5652829

Aging Point Lepreau nuclear plant is running like a newborn

New Brunswick plant has operated trouble-free for one year

Robert Jones· CBC· Posted: Jul 17, 2020 5:00 AM AT



The Point Lepreau nuclear generating station is a 705 mega watt Candu-6 reactor. It has been a fixture at the edge of the Bay of Fundy for nearly four decades. (Submitted/NB Power)

New Brunswick's 37-year-old nuclear plant at Point Lepreau quietly completed a full year of uninterrupted power generation earlier this week, the first since its pre-teen years in the early 1990s.

It's a significant development that, if sustainable, holds the potential to alter the financial fortunes of NB Power.

"This accomplishment, especially through the COVID-19 pandemic, is something the station is proud of," the utility said in a statement about the milestone.

The nuclear plant was shut down for a week last summer for an unexpected repair but since coming back online on July 15, 2019, it has run trouble free.


Former premier Richard Hatfield loved large modern economic development projects and pushed for the adoption of nuclear power in New Brunswick. After years of construction and controversy, Lepreau went into commercial production in 1983. (CBC NEWS)

Over the last year, Lepreau has generated close to 5.8 terawatt hours of electricity for distribution, about $400 million worth depending on market prices, and close to 100 per cent of its maximum capacity.

NB Power believes it is the longest the plant has run without shutting down since at least 1994, and perhaps ever, since earlier records are not easily accessed.
"It is a bit more difficult to go any further than the 26 years (1994)," said NB Power spokesperson Marc Belliveau in an email about whether it has ever run longer.

The flawless year of operation for Lepreau follows the investment of several hundred million dollars in the plant to solve serious performance problems that emerged following its $2.4 billion refurbishment that ended in 2012.

It produced only 90 per cent of the electricity expected of it during the first seven and a half years after refurbishment due to a number of malfunctions in non nuclear equipment that had not been upgraded during the effort to replace nuclear components.

$500 million in repairs

Lepreau began what was supposed to be an 18-month, $1.4 billion refurbishment of its nuclear components in 2008. The renovation finished three years late and $1 billion over budget, and the plant performed below expectations until recently. (Photo submitted)

Multiple unscheduled shutdowns caused by the malfunctions between 2012 and last July cost NB Power more than $200 million in lost electrical production and pushed the cost of capital repairs and upgrades to improve reliability at Lepreau to more than $500 million.

That has been weighing down NB Power's bottom line and undermining plans to pay down debt.
At rate hearings in front of the Energy and Utilities Board over several years, utility executives have been predicting the heavy expenditures at Lepreau would eventually pay off in increased reliability.


NB Power has been unable to pay down its multi-billion dollar debt as planned since 2013 in part because of production problems and maintenance costs at the Point Lepreau nuclear generating station. (Submitted/NB Power)
 
It has and NB Power now expects Lepreau to fuel an increase in its profitability.

"If we think about what have been the primary drivers that have led to subpar (financial) performance the last number of years, we can point to Point Lepreau's performance coming out of the refurbishment," NB Power's chief financial officer, Darren Murphy, said at hearings in February during Lepreau's current mistake-free run.

"Unfortunately, it did not perform as we would have liked. However … we have been able to substantially improve the performance of Point Lepreau, therefore, reducing the risk that Lepreau will be the (cause) of subpar performance."

Originally, Lepreau was scheduled to be taken offline in April for annual maintenance but COVID-19 restrictions in the province derailed those plans until September. Instead it has kept running and setting production records.








Commenting is now closed for this story.




David Amos
Methinks folks should consider how much power we need N'esy Pas? 






Roy Kirk
Let's not forget that running for extended periods and deferring maintenance to do so is part of what got that plant into trouble in the 1st place. It is too valuable an asset to suffer such abuse. Deferral of a necessary maintenance shutdown -- even if that deferral was made necessary by the pandemic -- is a poor excuse for a celebration.


David Amos 

Morgan Brown
Reply to @Roy Kirk: Point Lepreau is not suffering abuse; the planned maintenance shutdown in April was the preferred target for the outage (i.e., Spring lower demand period). Delaying the outage until the Fall (another lower-demand period) is well within the safe capability of the unit, but utilities prefer to perform maintenance when scheduled (It's a huge effort to plan all the activities and coordinate the crews, contractors and supplies). Bruce-1 (also a CANDU, in Ont) just completed a 694-day continuous run, and Darlington-1 (also an Ont CANDU) passed the 903-day mark (still going), setting a new North American record for a continuous run (passing 894 days set in 1994).


Fred Brewer






























Gilles Villeneuve
We need to invest heavily in nuclear power to reduce carbon emissions and prevent climate change. Clean, emission free electricity from nuclear fired power plants is the future for our planet and is the only viable energy source that can take over from oil when it runs out.