NB Power files annual Variance Account Recovery with the NBEUB

2025-12-17

Fredericton (NB) – NB Power submitted its annual Variance Account Recovery (VAR) filing to the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board (NBEUB) for the 2026/27 fiscal year.

“This mechanism, as approved in legislation, allows us to address variances between budgeted and actual costs that occurred over the last year that were outside of our control,” said Lori Clark, President and CEO of NB Power. “While we work hard to accurately forecast the costs of delivering a safe, stable and reliable supply of electricity to New Brunswickers for the year ahead, things like changing weather patterns, evolving commodity prices and exchange rates, customers’ energy consumption, as well as hydro flows can differ from year to year and impact our bottom line – both negatively and positively.”

In 2021, changes to the Electricity Act introduced the VAR mechanism as a means of providing greater transparency for NB Power customers and ensuring electricity costs are accurately reflected in rates in a timely manner.

Each year, the utility is required to file a VAR application with the NBEUB and the VAR amount is determined by whether certain actual costs and revenues come in higher or lower than anticipated. If actual costs are lower than anticipated, customers may receive a credit and if actual costs are higher than anticipated, rates may be increased to recover the difference. In 2023/24, customers received a credit on their bill, in 2024/25 and 2025/26 this amount stayed constant as a charge to customers due to costs outside of our control.

On December 15, 2025 NB Power submitted its annual VAR application for the fiscal year starting April 1, 2026, the VAR charge, if approved by the NBEUB, will be 0.04¢/kWh more than the current charge. For the average residential customer, this means an increase of about 54 cents per month.

The drivers of this year’s Variance Account Recovery application are:

• The balance from the previous years.
• Reduction in industrial load.
• Lower than anticipated nuclear production and reduced hydro production due to drought.
• This was partially offset by higher export opportunities, as selling our surplus electricity out-of-province during the summer months generates extra revenue.

“We are very conscious of rate increase and the impact they can have on some of our customers who are struggling, which is why we view them as a last resort,” said Clark. “The VAR mechanism is a means of helping us responsibly manage our utility’s financial situation and ensures we address unplanned shortfalls and don’t overcharge customers and it allows us to spread the cost over time to minimize the overall impact during years of higher-than-expected revenue like in 2023/24 when our customers received a credit on their bills for 12 months following a NBEUB-approved VAR filing.”

To learn more about NB Power’s annual VAR application filing, click www.nbpower.com/en/about-us/regulatory/variance-account-recovery-filing.

Media Contact:

Elizabeth Fraser - EFraser@nbpower.com