A five-day hearing into a proposed natural gas and diesel power plant in rural Tantramar will proceed on Monday, despite last-minute evidence submitted by N.B. Power.
In documents now available on the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board website, the utility revealed changes to its plan for the controversial gas plant.
The utility has reached a deal with Nova Scotia’s Independent Energy System Operator to sell 100 megawatts of capacity from the proposed plant over the next 10 years, which would provide some cost-sharing opportunities for the utility.
That means the proposed plant near Centre Village would be capable of producing up to 500 megawatts of electricity when needed by either N.B. Power or the Nova Scotia system.
The documents also show the utility has amended its 25-year deal with ProEnergy, the company hired to build and operate the gas and diesel plant, which is to estimated to cost more than $1 billion.
WATCH | EUB to give interveners some ‘leeway’ in gas plant hearings:
Hearings on proposed Tantramar gas plant begin Monday
EUB has decided to allow last-minute information from N.B. Power on an expanded plant deal.
The original contract with ProEnergy required the utility to get regulatory approval by April 2, or the Missouri-based company would have the right to leave the deal. The new agreement sets a June 2 deadline.
N.B Power may need the additional time, depending on what interveners in the process have to say about it.
Substantial changes
Energy and Utilities Board hearings into the “prudence” of the proposed plant are set to start Monday in Moncton.
On Friday, public intervener Alain Chiasson asked the board to delay the hearing to allow time for interveners to examine the evidence.
The new evidence “changes the composition of the deal,” said Chiasson, including the price the utility may pay for the plant and the power it produces.
Lawyer Alain Chiasson is to represent the public interest at a hearing by the Energy and Utilities Board on the Tantramar gas plant project. (Erica Butler / CBC)
Chiasson said there have been substantial and important changes, such as the increase to a 500-megawatt capacity for the plant.
“That’s why we would like to be able to at least interrogate N.B. Power on the new deal.”
Two experts hired by the public intervener to review N.B. Power’s proposal were critical of the rationale for the gas and diesel plant, citing out-of-date analysis and errors by the utility.
Chiasson said the new agreements “might not change the core opinion of our experts,” but “we certainly have questions.”
Surprised by filing
Lisa Griffin said she was surprised by the late filing, which first came to her via an email on Monday, during an online conference to consider motions in the case. Griffin is part of the Protect the Chignecto Isthmus Coalition, a registered intervener opposing the N.B. Power proposal.
Griffin said she’s concerned that the last-minute nature of N.B. Power’s new evidence will provide, “no chance for any of the interveners, or even the board, even to read it, go through it in fine detail, suggest interrogatories.”
The “back and forth” over evidence is part of the regulatory process, she said.
Board will admit late evidence
Board chair Christopher Stewart said Friday that N.B. Power’s new evidence would be allowed, but he offered interveners a choice to help them deal with the implications.
Stewart said interveners would be given leeway in their cross-examination and testimony during the five-day hearing next week.
Or they may ask for additional hearing days at a later date to consider the new deal separately.
“This situation is not ideal,” Stewart said. “But we must deal with matters as they emerge.”
If some interveners decide to ask for additional hearing days to consider the new N.B, Power deal, the board’s decision on the gas plant project could be delayed.
‘Expansion opportunity’ could reduce costs
N.B. Power has previously mentioned the possibility of selling an additional 100 megawatts of generation capacity to a “third party” somewhere in the Maritimes.
In its original filings with the Energy and Utilities Board, the utility described an “expansion opportunity” that could reduce overall costs for New Brunswick ratepayers through a premium charged for the additional capacity.
The utility’s new evidence confirms that expansion opportunity and notes the deal with Nova Scotia will mean “a reduction in the effective price to N.B. Power … due to the sharing of some fixed costs.”
Utility warns of risks without new deal
A briefing note to a committee of the N.B. Power board dated Dec. 17, 2025, warns about risks should the board not approve the revised deal with ProEnergy.
It repeats the warning heard many times from N.B. Power officials that delays to the project could leave N.B. Power short on power capacity.
The heavily redacted note also mentions potential financial risks, including an unknown situation involving ProEnergy, where N.B. Power would not have recourse to recover costs and where it “would be required to take legal action that may or may not be successful.”
Some of the publicly available documents submitted by N.B. Power to the Energy and Utilities board have been heavily redacted. (Erica Butler/CBC)
According to the documents, the N.B. Power board approved of the amended ProEnergy deal and the new agreement with Nova Scotia in mid-December, and the deals were finalized by Jan. 16.
Lisa Griffin said the timeline has made her suspicious of N.B. Power’s motives.
“Why did you choose to do this so late?” Griffin asks of the utility. “Is it part of your strategy? And if that’s the case, then it seriously lacks transparency.”