"I'll be the new chief nuclear officer at the end of September," Clark told Liberal MLA Keith Chiasson who asked about Plummer's status.

"Mr. Plummer's contract with N.B. Power will be done at the end of September."

Clark did not elaborate on what led to the departure or who initiated it but made it clear N.B. Power is moving on.

"Any plans to renew his contract?" asked Chiasson.

"No," replied Clark.

The Point Lepreau nuclear station has just come through its worst operational year since coming out of refurbishment in 2012. (Submitted by NB Power)

A request to N.B. Power to speak with Plummer about his departure was not immediately answered.

An American who received his training as a nuclear operator in the U.S. navy, Plummer was hired in 2015 to try to sort out operational problems at Lepreau.  

The nuclear plant failed to perform as hoped following a refurbishment that ended in 2012 and was three years behind schedule and $1 billion over budget. It suffered numerous breakdowns and maintenance problems that began to drag on N.B. Power's finances almost immediately.

N.B. Power hoped Plummer could fix that track record, and it paid top dollar for his expertise. 

He was the highest paid employee at N.B. Power during his eight years, earning more than all three presidents he served under. Earlier this year, the utility revealed he was being paid more than $100,000 per month in 2023. 

N.B. Power has hired three operators from the nuclear division of Ontario Power Generation to help run Lepreau in the short term. (CBC)

During Plummer's term, N.B. Power invested several hundred million more dollars to try to improve Lepreau's  performance, but difficulties have persisted.  

Last year was its worst yet since refurbishment, with the plant operating at just 57 per cent of its annual production capacity.  

That shortfall included a mid-winter breakdown in December that lasted more than a month and forced N.B. Power to buy replacement electricity in the open market at record prices.   

By the end of the year the utility's debt had ballooned $468 million to $5.4 billion, largely because of downtime and repairs at Lepreau.

Clark, an accountant by training, said she will serve as chief nuclear officer but other qualified people will be responsible for overseeing plant operations.  

She confirmed that three nuclear operators from Ontario Power Generation's nuclear division have been hired under contract for the next three years to run Lepreau and are already in their jobs.

The Point Lepreau plant is a moneymaker for N.B. Power when operating but a financial drain when it sits idle. N.B. Power has struggled for more than a decade to cut the number of Lepreau's down days. (Submitted NB Power)

She said N.B. Power continues to negotiate with OPG on a possible joint arrangement to run Point Lepreau.

"A partnership could range from a sharing of resources or it could be a part ownership in the station," said Clark.

"Being able to share resources with OPG or another nuclear operator would help us get the plant to the overall reliability levels that are acceptable to us." 

N.B. Power officials appearing before a committee of MLAs on Friday were asked about how federal carbon charges are harming the utility.

But instead of pointing to harm, the officials said the policy has caused N.B. Power to lower emissions and help fund energy conservation and conversion programs for customers.

N.B. Power president Lori Clark said carbon charges it has paid since 2019, mostly on emissions from two large oil and coal-burning generating stations in Belledune and Saint John, have been returned to the utility to finance heat pump, insulation and other programs it runs for customers.

"A lot of that money is being recycled back to allow us to help New Brunswickers with their electricity bills," she told the public accounts committee of the legislature.

N.B. Power is planning to spend up to $118 million this year on a variety of programs to help provincial businesses and individuals lower their electricity consumption.

This is almost five times what it spent four years ago. Much of that money is being supplied from carbon charges collected and redirected by both the federal and provincial governments, including charges N.B. Power itself has had to pay.

The utility views what it spends on customer-efficiency programs as a benefit because lower electricity usage from customers helps soften expensive peak demands on its system during the winter season.  

Last winter, N.B. Power experienced the largest single demand load in history, 3,442 megawatts, during a cold snap on Feb. 4.

Maintaining generating infrastructure to serve those peak events is costly. Helping customers use less power, rather than build more generating capacity, is seen by N.B. Power as a cost-effective way to manage its own current and future expenses.

Jeff Carr, the Progressive Conservative MLA for New Maryland-Sunbury, asked how much in carbon charges N.B. Power has had to pay on its generators since 2019 and where that money goes.

N.B. Power's vice-president of business development, Brad Coady, estimated the bill will have reached $31.9 million by the end of 2023. However, everything paid to Ottawa has come back to the utility.

"A lot of the money we receive for energy efficiency stemming from federal support in that area is where that money is coming back," said Coady. 

"We do not receive a rebate directly to N.B. Power but this is how we see the rebate showing up."

In the first two years, carbon charges on N.B. Power were collected by Ottawa, and in the last three years New Brunswick has run its own system. Money collected provincially also flows back to the utility after being deposited in the province's Climate Change Fund, according to Coady.

The vast majority of carbon charges N.B. Power has paid involve generation at the company's coal-fired generating station in Belledune and the Coleson Cove oil-fired station in Saint John.

A natural gas generating station, also in Saint John, has so far been efficient enough to avoid charges.

In addition to what N.B. Power has paid being returned, Clark acknowledged the federal policy has also caused the utility to reduce the burning of coal and oil to keep taxable greenhouse gas emissions down.

"When you think about how we dispatch our units we dispatch on economics," said Clark. 

"As the carbon tax goes up and gets added to those units, then they are unlikely to get dispatched as low in the order."