Softening Nova Scotia Power’s emissions cap in the short term will have customers breathing easier. What it will mean for air quality in the long run is another thing.
But the Nova Scotia government delivered its much-anticipated decision Thursday on what it would do to save people from a stiff hike of 12 per cent on power bills – and 18 per cent for industry.
They were obviously trying to find the thin line between the anger such an increase would spark and the overdue need to reduce the dirtier fuels and mercury emissions.
The annual mercury emissions cap of 65 kilograms now won’t take effect until 2014. That is to be followed by a 35-kilogram cap in 2020.
This means, in all likelihood, when NSP goes before the utility and review board this fall it will seek a smaller increase. That has anyone concerned about the effects of mercury pollution on the environment and human health criticizing the delay – and with good reason.
NSP simply can’t continue foisting its responsibilities onto consumers.
Other industries are increasingly facing demands to clean up their act – while still remaining competitive in what they sell. Our electrical utility lives with the luxury of being a monopoly. Customers can’t shop around.
Had the Nova Scotia utility not been privatized some years ago, capital upgrades – to burn cleaner fuels, to find other efficiencies to help pay for premium fuels – would partly have been funded by taxes. Nova Scotians understand that.
What this corporation needs to understand is that it has to get on with the challenge of making improvements without continually charging more. For its shareholders, that might mean making somewhat less of a return than they might like as the company invests in its future.
But that’s what happens in the world of business when a company wants to be competitive, efficient, affordable, profitable and environmentally responsible – all essential ingredients.
