AI-generated summary
· Application · 04/22/2026
NSEB panel grills Nova Scotia Power on Tufts Cove shoreline cost overruns, vegetation management effectiveness, and Five-Year Reliability Plan targets during Day 2 of M12619 ACE hearing
AI summary
- Board Member Murphy conducted extensive questioning of the NSP panel on the Tufts Cove Shoreline Refurbishment Project (rock revetment option), challenging whether the options analysis methodology — weighted 40% on design criteria and only 20% on cost — was adequate given that tendered costs now exceed the accuracy range (−50% to +100%) of the original options analysis estimate, and that no formal reassessment of alternatives was documented when costs came in significantly higher (Exhibit N-1, PDF pp. 155–175; Board IRs 69, 72, 74).
- Member Murphy pressed NSP on vegetation management spending effectiveness, presenting a graphic (Exhibit N-21) showing that between 2021 and 2024 — the two MED/EED-free years — customer interruptions and customer hours of interruption increased despite $57 million spent on D010 and new right-of-way programs; NSP attributed the trend to increased wind gusts above 80 km/h and argued the program is showing benefits in 2025 with a 19% year-over-year reduction in tree-contact outages.
- The Chair questioned the lack of a benchmark for transmission line replacement costs per kilometre and per structure (Appendix I, Exhibit N-1), and NSP acknowledged no standard benchmark exists, citing the highly variable nature of each project; 21 undertakings (U-1 through U-21) were issued covering matters including vegetation management cost-per-kilometre increases (U-19), customer interruption data for lines where vegetation work was completed (U-20), and a corrected response to Board IR-132 on feeder performance (U-21).
- Consumer Advocate expert John Wilson (Exhibit N-9) affirmed his 13 recommendations without change, including reducing default contingency from 15% to 10% for transmission projects without risk matrices, improving work asset management metrics for distribution routines, and enhancing cost-effectiveness tracking for the Vegetation Management Program; Wilson noted NSP's evidence about tracking labour hours to capital routines was more positive than the IR responses he relied upon.
- The hearing adjourned with undertakings due May 6, closing submissions due May 29, and reply submissions due June 5.
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What was filed
Documents filed on this day
- 20260422-1 Hearing Transcript — 04/22/2026 (Revised Transcript - Refiled May 20, 2026)