N.B. Power VP's salary closer to $1.3M, utility acknowledges
Spokesperson says lower figure was ‘honest mistake’ amid scrutiny of Brett Plummer’s pay
Utility spokesperson Dominique Couture said it was "an honest mistake" when the utility provided a much lower figure last Friday, amid controversy over Brett Plummer's position.
Plummer is, in fact, earning between $975,000 and $999,000 US, Couture said.
That's more than $1.3 million Cdn based on the current exchange rate.
The
salary of Brett Plummer, N.B. Power's vice-president of nuclear energy,
has come under political scrutiny with the news the utility is talking
to Ontario Power Generation about a role in running Lepreau. (Roger Cosman/CBC)
And it's about double what Plummer was being paid in 2017, despite the Point Lepreau nuclear generating station — his primary responsibility — operating far below capacity.
"It's the juxtaposition between the declining capacity factor at Lepreau and the rising income," said Louse Comeau of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick.
"The whole point was to have improved performance."
Comeau discovered a figure of $1.2 million Cdn for Plummer's salary in documents N.B. Power filed with the Energy and Utilities Board. That led the utility to acknowledge last week's figure was wrong.
Louise Comeau of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick said Plummer was hired specifically to get Lepreau back on track. (Rachel Cave/CBC)
Plummer's large large salary has come under political scrutiny with the news that N.B. Power is talking to Ontario Power Generation, a Crown utility, about a role in running Lepreau.
N.B. Power said there could be "some OPG ownership" of Lepreau, though it added the facility as a whole is not for sale.
As of January, the plant had achieved only 55 per cent capacity for 2022-23, according to N.B. Power's filings with the Energy and Utilities Board.
That includes a 35-day outage that began Dec. 15 and stretched into January.
Opposition parties have questioned how Plummer's salary can be justified if Lepreau's operation has been poor enough to warrant looking outside the province for help.
Premier Blaine Higgs suggested last week that the Ontario utility's experience with a fleet of nuclear reactors gives it the ability to get better results than the "ups and downs" Lepreau has experienced.
The plant has had a series of problems since a $2.4-billion refurbishment wrapped up in 2012.
It produced only 90 per cent of the electricity expected of it during the first 7½ years after refurbishment, costing the utility $200 million in electrical production.
Energy
Minister Mike Holland said if Ontario Power is brought in to help
Lepreau, he will want to know 'why everybody that's in their positions
are justified.' (Ed Hunter/CBC)
The shutdown last December wiped out all of the utility's projected profit for this year.
Energy Minister Mike Holland acknowledged last Friday that if Ontario Power Generation is brought in to help Lepreau, "I would be posing the question to the utility: Help me understand why everybody that's in their positions are justified and earning their keep."
N.B. Power said last week that Plummer, an American nuclear engineer with a home in Maine, was earning $675,000 US, a figure it now says was incorrect and that would be the equivalent of around $915,000 Cdn.
Opposition Liberal energy critic Keith Chiasson obtained Plummer's 2022 travel expenses through a right to information request, showing he billed $12,827.94 in living expenses and $15,311.88 in mileage during the year.
Comeau pointed out Plummer was hired specifically to get Lepreau back on track.
"The big concern is that the capacity factor keeps declining [and] the improvements that they think they're making are not working."
She believes a deal with the Ontario corporation could involve the creation of an N.B. Power subsidiary that might remove Lepreau's operations from the regulatory scrutiny of the EUB.
Legislation passed by the Higgs government last year allows the utility to create subsidiaries.
The province has already shielded the potential $3-billion cost of the proposed refurbishment of the Mactaquac hydro dam from EUB oversight.
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Ontario utility could become partial owner of Point Lepreau nuclear plant
Premier says after ‘ups and downs’ at Lepreau, deal could lead to better operation of troubled facility
Jacques Poitras · CBC News · Posted: Mar 29, 2023 3:45 PM ADT
A concrete building with a squat, round tower sits on the edge of land with rocks and water in the foreground. The Point Lepreau nuclear plant has been plagued by problems since a four-year, $2.4-billion refurbishment project ended in 2012. (Submitted by N.B. Power)
N.B. Power is negotiating with Ontario Power Generation on what's being called "a potential partnership" that could involve a partial ownership stake in Point Lepreau nuclear generating station.
Utility spokesperson Dominique Couture told CBC News an eventual agreement "could include some OPG ownership in the station."
Premier Blaine Higgs confirmed to reporters Wednesday that the Ontario Crown corporation is meeting with officials in the coming weeks to discuss improving the operation of New Brunswick's only nuclear power plant.
"The fact that they run multiple nuclear generators, and we only have one, means they have a level of expertise there. And we've gone through some of the ups and downs of Lepreau, especially in the last few years," he said.
"So how can we get better capacity there? And how can we turn that into a partnership for future generation?"
A portrait of a man with grey hair and glasses, wearing a trench coat, speaking. Premier Blaine Higgs said he thinks a partnership is needed and could be beneficial. (Radio-Canada)
Asked if Point Lepreau could be sold to Ontario Power, Higgs did not rule it out.
"We don't have a plan. I don't know what an operating structure might look like, and the discussions with OPG have been [happening] for years.
"But I think we need to have a partnership, and at the end of the day we can build on that partnership. And I don't know what that looks like."
Point Lepreau has been plagued by problems since a four-year, $2.4-billion refurbishment project ended in 2012.
A December breakdown at the nuclear plant added another $380 million to N.B. Power's accumulated debt, driving it to $5.3 billion and wiped out a projected $45.7-million profit at the utility this year.
All possible options considered, utility says
In a statement, N.B. Power said "the status quo is not an option" for the utility, which is saddled with debt and facing several other costly refurbishments.
"All possible options are being considered as we lay out a path for a very different future that will ensure we have affordable, safe and reliable electricity for our customers and improved financial health," said Couture.
"N.B. Power has successfully utilized partnership models in the past to help resolve long-standing issues and improve performance. This included sharing of key talent, operating experience and industry best practices."
A dam sits at the head of a body of water in winter.
Higgs compared a possible Ontario deal with Hydro-Quebec's role in the proposed Mactaquac dam upgrade. (James West/The Canadian Press)
Higgs also pointed to agreements with other utilities, comparing a possible Ontario Power deal with Hydro-Quebec's role in the proposed $3-billion upgrade of the Mactaquac hydroelectric dam.
"We look to a nuclear operator that's much larger than us, has much more experience than us. Are we afraid to ask? Not on your life." Details still being discussed
The discussions with the Ontario utility were revealed during Question Period in the legislature when Tracadie Liberal MLA Keith Chiasson produced a screen image of an email sent by the Ontario utility's CEO Ken Hartwick.
"As N.B. Power looks for ways to drive to drive performance and value for New Brunswick ratepayers in the production of clean, reliable nuclear power from [Lepreau], we are exploring what benefit may exist from a partnership between the two companies," the email said.
Hartwick wrote that the details were still being discussed but Ontario Power officials would be visiting the Lepreau plant next week.
"The partnership we are building with N.B. Power will be a business relationship made in the best interest of Ontario," he said.
A large grouping of electrical power towers are shown in a forested area. Higgs told reporters an agreement with Ontario Power would also help the two provinces avoid competing with each other in the field of small modular nuclear reactors. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
In a statement to CBC News, Ontario Power spokesperson Neal Kelly repeated some passages from the email and said any partnership would be "made in the best interests of Ontario and New Brunswick."
Chiasson said he's not necessarily against the Ontario utility playing a role at Lepreau, but the government should be transparent about it.
"There's nothing wrong with that," he said. "If there is negotiating going on with OPG, we should know."
Green Leader David Coon said the argument that Ontario Power could help run Lepreau better was curious because N.B. Power has justified the salary of its vice-president nuclear, Brett Plummer, "based on his ability to run Point Lepreau well."
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In 2017, N.B. Power confirmed that Plummer was being paid $500,000 US, or about $655,000 Cdn at the time, more than the utility's CEO.
Higgs told reporters an agreement with Ontario Power would also help the two provinces avoid competing with each other in the field of next-generation small modular nuclear reactors.
The Ontario Power email doesn't mention small modular nuclear reactors, but the premier said partnering with the utility would allow for a "a pan-Canadian approach" on promoting the technology.
The Atlantic Loop would expand the electrical grid connections between Quebec and New Brunswick and New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to provide greater access to renewable electricity, like hydro from Quebec.
The Atlantic Loop would expand the electrical grid connections between Quebec and New Brunswick and New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to provide greater access to renewable electricity, like hydro from Quebec. (CBC)
Higgs also told reporters he welcomed measures in the federal budget Tuesday that might make the proposed Atlantic Loop more financially viable.
The plan would link electrical grids and upgrade transmission links in the four Atlantic provinces and Quebec to allow more selling of carbon-free hydroelectric power around the region.
Ottawa's budget will allow such projects to be paid for over a 30-year timeline and make them eligible for a 15-per-cent tax credit.
Higgs has been hesitant about the potential cost of the project, but said the federal policy moves could make it more affordable.
"I see a shift there in the federal government's philosophy, so we'll look at the loop, at the benefits to New Brunswick and the benefits to Atlantic Canada," he said. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jacques Poitras
Provincial Affairs reporter
Jacques Poitras has been CBC's provincial affairs reporter in New Brunswick since 2000. He grew up in Moncton and covered Parliament in Ottawa for the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal. He has reported on every New Brunswick election since 1995 and won awards from the Radio Television Digital News Association, the National Newspaper Awards and Amnesty International. He is also the author of five non-fiction books about New Brunswick politics and history.
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"The province has already shielded the potential $3-billion cost of the proposed refurbishment of the Mactaquac hydro dam from EUB oversight."