municipalities accuse nb power of over-charging for street-light service - street light price
The New Brunswick city union says NB Power needs to stop raising the standard for street lighting.
In fact, executive director Margot Crapper said utilities need not only to stop raising interest rates --
It needs to educate them.
In early February, after writing a letter about street lamp prices in the city of fredrikton, Crapper gave a speech to the Energy and Utilities Commission, and the union decided to fight for all the cities.
"For fredrikton, the cost in 2017 was more than a million dollars," she said . ".
"For other cities in the region, such as oromoto, it's $340,000, and even for rural communities like Hanwell, it's over $41,000 . . . . . . This is quite a sum.
The money spent on street lights can't be spent anywhere else, crasher said.
He added that the EU has set a standard to determine the level of each rate.
"So what the European Commission is saying is that, to a reasonable extent, the rate for each category should be equal to the cost of the supply of the service.
But the company said it plans to increase its cost to 195.
"This is almost twice the cost of actually providing services.
The current unemployment rate is too high and is deteriorating year by year, Crapper noted.
She said in 2015
It accounts for 176 of the cost of providing services. In 2017-
2018 this cost represents 192 per cent.
"This cost-to-income ratio is deteriorating year by year," Crapper said . " He added that the proposed ratio would be more punitive if accepted.
NB Power said it believes street light services are optional and not subject to EU fair price guidelines.
The company also said that rising street lamp prices helped to keep prices falling for other customers, such as owners.
At this week's hearing, public intervener Heather Black and European Commission lawyer Alan Desmond both pressed the NB Power rate design manager to explain why they ignored when setting charges for street lights and water heater rents
"NB Power doesn't think street lights are a price class," said Kevin Gibson, a price design expert at utilities.
But he said it would follow whatever direction the European Commission gave on the issue.
According to standardcrapper, this is the decision of the European Commission to have NB Power follow the standards it has set.
Cramer said the organization asked the European Commission to set interest rates at rates that provide fair prices for streets
Lighting Services in all cities.
"Any dollar spent on street lights that are overpriced is money that municipalities cannot spend on roads and water services, she said: "I can't spend money on the services and infrastructure that our community uses every day. ".