Strengths

Smart meters

New Brunswick started rolling out advanced meters in March, 2022. The program is expected to be complete in 2024.

This infrastructure will enable an accurate targeting of energy saving opportunities, while aiding evaluation and giving customers real-time feedback.

Energy efficiency research

New Brunswick has the highest proportion of National Science and Engineering Research Council energy research grants going to energy efficiency research.

This is due to a single project at the University of New Brunswick that focuses on dispatchable control systems in local electricity distribution networks.

Opportunities for improvement

Energy efficiency resource standard

Proposed annual electricity targets in New Brunswick increase savings to 0.75 per cent of sales by 2028–2029.

That’s higher than the province achieved historically, yet lower than the one per cent of savings achieved in Nova Scotia in 2021 and much lower than leading American states that consistently achieve annual savings of two per cent or more.

This level of savings is unlikely to be adequate to achieve net-zero emission goals.

Low-income energy efficiency

The Auditor General compared funding levels for low-income programming with other Atlantic provinces, and called for NB Power to develop a plan and timeline to ensure easy access for all applicants to the utility’s Low Income Energy Savings program.

Based on this year’s benchmark, New Brunswick would need to increase low-income energy efficiency spending from $4 million to $32 million to match PEI and $12 million to match Nova Scotia.