NB Power is blaming COVID-19 and an unplanned outage at Point Lepreau for “disappointing” financial results this past fiscal year.
In its year-end results released Thursday, the utility reported a net loss of $4 million, well below its net earnings target of $41 million.
The Crown corporation also recorded a $9 million increase in net debt for the 2020-21 fiscal year.
“We are very disappointed with these negative financial results,” President and CEO Keith Cronkhite said in a news release.
“While we were able to defer some of our spending and achieved $28.5 million in continuous improvement savings, we were not able to mitigate the full impact of the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station outages and COVID-19 related expenses.”
According to the report, revenue loss and incremental costs related to COVID-19 lowered the utility’s net earnings by around $65 million.
That included $27 million in lost revenue due to delaying the 2020-21 increase by one year and a $19-million loss due to lower in-province electricity sales.
The utility said the suspension of late payment and interest charges also cost it $5 million in revenue.
In addition, NB Power had to spend an extra $65 million on replacement power during a 42-day outage at the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station in January and February.
The unplanned outage was caused by a mechanical issue related to equipment supporting the turbine system.
The utility said it spent an additional $8 million to bring the station back online.
