EUB may have power over N.B. water rates

The Energy and Utilities Board may have the authority to begin setting water rates, a move that could have large implications on many municipalities, according to a New Brunswick lawyer.

The Energy and Utilities Board was created in 2006 andthe lawincludes clear references to giving the regulatory board authority over the delivery of water.

Most people in New Brunswick are familiar with the board's weekly price setting of gasoline and home heating oil rates or assessing NB Power rate increases that rise above three per cent.

Lawyer Peter Hyslop has researched the question of whether the board has power over water rates and he believes the argument could be made that the EUB should exercise that authority.

"The historical meaning of the word utility may well take into effect you could apply it to water you could argue it should be applied to water because of the nature of a monopoly providing the service," Hyslop said.

Hyslop is familiar with the regulatory processbecause he served as the public intervener during a lengthy NB Power rate increase hearing in 2005 and 2006 in front of the Public Utilities Board, the current board's predecessor.

Hyslop said allowing the EUB to start probing water rates could be expensive and it may throw into question deals cities and towns have made with industrial users.

Added costs could come just in having the regulatory board probe water rates. As well, an independent board may decide to set rates differently than a municipality.

Ray Gorman, the EUB's chairman, said the board has not been asked to interpret whether it can regulate water delivery.

Bill passed before 2006 election

Progressive Conservative MLA Bruce Fitch, who served as an energy minister in the Bernard Lord government that created the Energy and Utilities Board, said he didn't know why the water wording is in the law.

The Tories introducedEUB legislation late intheir final session, along with the controversial gas regulation, so MLAs were forced to speed through debate of the bills before the assembly adjourned for the summer and ultimately the 2006 election.

Fitch, who was justice and consumer affairs minister when the laws were introduced,said he suspects the water references may have been in previous legislation and it could have been designed for cases where a water monopoly lies outside a municipal boundary.

"For instance, if there's not a jurisdiction that's covering the rates, then it may fall to the EUB to determine a rate," he said.

Water rates concern Penobsquis residents

That specific case may exist in Penobsquis, the southern New Brunswick community that has been without water for several years.

The provincial government has built a new water system and placed it under the authority of the village of Sussex Corner. That decision has led to more than a dozen families refusing to pay a water fee ordered by Sussex Corner's council to hook up their homes to the new water system.

Some Penobsquis residents have hired a lawyer to challenge the water contract with Sussex Corner. But they have no plans, at this point, to raise the issue with the Energy and Utilities Board.