Landlords trash reduced rate hike by Halifax Water

Water pours slowly out of the faucet on Saturday, Feb. 20, 2021, in Dallas, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

HALIFAX — Halifax landlords are trashing a reduced rate hike by Halifax’s water utility, saying a proposed 17.6 per cent increase this year is still too expensive.

Late last month the provincial regulator approved the double-digit rate increase, less than half the 35.6 per cent bump Halifax Water had wanted.

Kevin Russell, executive director of industry group Rental Housing Providers Nova Scotia, says the hike is still more than six times the current rate of inflation. Those costs will be passed on to renters, who are already staring down increased power bills and property tax hikes, he said.

“It’s becoming clear that the biggest driver of costs right now for rental housing providers is the government, whether it’s taxes or utilities,” Russell said in an interview Friday. “At the same time, everybody (in the government) is talking about housing affordability, but they seem to be the biggest drivers of cost right now.”

The Nova Scotia Regulatory and Appeals Board still has to give final approval to the 17.6 per cent rate increase. Russell says his group is pushing for a more gradual increase of five per cent a year for five years, but isn’t optimistic that will happen.

To get to the board-approved numbers, Halifax Water had to remove $27.2 million it had wanted to use to eliminate its deficit. It said it will still try to recover those costs from customers, but more gradually, when the utility returns before the board with another rate application in September. It also scrapped $19 million in costs by adjusting its debt and depreciation levels.

“By taking these meaningful steps, we are easing the financial burden on households,” general manager Kenda MacKenzie said in a late-December news release.

Halifax-based Killam Apartment REIT, the city’s biggest landlord, said in a board submission that it’s concerned with aspects of Halifax Water’s bookkeeping. CEO Philip Fraser’s letter says the city has collected $128 million in development charges on behalf of the utility in recent years, but that number is not included in Halifax Water’s financial statements.

Halifax Water spokesperson Brittany Smith said in email that development charges are reflected in audited financial statements submitted to the board annually. She said they do not impact the utility’s revenue requirements because they are used to fund new capital projects related to growth.

“Development charges are designed to ensure that growth pays for growth. So, it is essential that the funding for water service upgrades, replacements, and expansions be addressed in a financially sustainable way,” she wrote.

Consumer advocate and Pink Larkin lawyer David Roberts wrote the board to say a hike of 17 per cent in less than three months still amounts to rate shock.

He said in the future, Halifax Water must seek some relief on the amount of cash it sends annually to the city in lieu of property taxes, an amount budgeted at $6.6 million in 2025. Roberts said the city -- Halifax Water’s only shareholder -- should explore absorbing some or all of the utility’s budget shortfalls.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 2, 2026.