Customers react negatively to N.S. utility asking customers to conserve energy

A pedestrian makes their way through a winter storm as high winds and heavy snow blanket Halifax, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese

Halifax — A request from Nova Scotia’s power utility to conserve energy is being met with less than favourable reactions online.

Nova Scotia Power posted on social media several times over the weekend, asking customers to conserve energy as extremely cold temperatures hit the province.

In response, comments and reactions to the request did not hold back.

Many commenters on Instagram mentioned the high cost of power and the utility’s recent request to raise their rates. “We already conserve energy and we still can’t afford our bill, so what more do you want us to do?” asked one commenter. “How about investing that eight per cent increase into supporting the grid instead of returning profits to shareholders?” asked another.

That comment refers to N.S. Power’s request earlier this year to raise residential rates, a move that’s been denounced by members of all three provincial parties.

The province’s largest power utility has proposed residential rate increases of about eight per cent by next year. If they are approved by the board, the first 3.8 per cent increase would be effective retroactive to Jan. 1, and the second 4.1 per cent hike would come into effect Jan. 1, 2027.

Premier Tim Houston has said the utility is “out of touch” for requesting a rate hike in the aftermath of the massive data breach last fall.

Other commenters said the request to turn the heat down during one of the coldest weekends of the year so far was hard to swallow. “It’s -20 and you expect people to turn down their heat? Are you guys ok?” read one comment.

Nova Scotia Power officials say they have “read all messages from our customers and certainly understand their frustration.”

In an email, the utility says they are committed to sharing updates with Nova Scotians regarding “the steps we have taken and what they can do to conserve energy. We also continue to work with utilities and customers across the Atlantic region to support one another through this extreme cold.”

In a news release Sunday, Nova Scotia Power said they have already seen localized outages related to the cold weather, and any system-wide issue could result in rotating power outages across the province.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 26, 2026.