Newfoundland Power has filed a general rate application (GRA) to the Newfoundland and Labrador Board of Commissioners of Public Utilities for a rate increase of 1.2 per cent the corporation announced Friday.
The increase for electricity rates would come into effect on March 1, 2019 if approved.
“Our customers tell us that reliability and price are the two most important factors when it comes to the delivery of their electricity service. We understand any rate increase matters to our customers and we work hard to minimize our impact on electricity rates by effectively managing our costs,” Peter Alteen, president and chief executive officer, Newfoundland Power said in a news release Friday.
Newfoundland Power says providing safe, reliable electricity service largely depends on maintaining the quality and condition of the electricity system including replacing aging equipment.
In order to do so, they say various costs associated with the delivery of electricity impact this rate change, including continued investment in the electricity system and energy supply costs.
“As the primary distributor of electricity in our province, we operate and maintain an electricity system of approximately $1.1 billion.” Alteen said.
“Over the past five years, we have invested approximately $500 million in our provincial electricity system. Establishing a fair and reasonable future return on this investment is a component of this rate increase,” he added.
Newfoundland Power’s GRA includes ways it is being responsive to customers’ changing service expectations, including a proposal to introduce a new energy-efficient LED streetlight service as the future standard to provide better lighting quality and improved reliability while reducing overall costs to customers.
When approved, all new streetlight installations and replacements will use LED technology.
Newfoundland Power expects that its GRA will be subject to a thorough public review over the coming months. Visit newfoundlandpower.com to review Newfoundland Power’s 2019-2020 GRA. https://secure.newfoundlandpower.com/About-Us/About-Newfoundland-Power/Regulatory
