Topic:"Cybersecurity" in M12784

Period Estimates % Monthly YTD % Estimates Cumulative Estimates Pre-Cyber Incident 6,939 0.54 January 1,486 0.43 0.43 February 1,783 0.53 0.48 March 1,857 0.54 0.50 April 1,813 0.70 0.54 Post-Cyber Incident 1,514,830 55.20 April 1,292 2.05...

AI summary The document presents data on estimated bills before and after a cyber incident, showing a significant increase post-incident. Reasons include manual meter readings due to weather challenges and remote locations. NS Power met estimated bills metrics through early 2023.

Page 28 of 115 2025 Annual Performance Standards Report Non-Confidential 1 The Company responded to the loss of its primary billing process with back-up continuity 2 protocols, including implementing a manual meter reading program. NS Powe...

AI summary NS Power addressed a 2025 cyber incident disrupting billing systems by implementing manual meter reading, training staff, and restoring AMI connectivity. Over 90% of meter connectivity was restored by the report's filing, though the incident caused a surge in estimated bills (1.0% in 2024, 0.7% in 2023). Customer outreach included payment deferrals and community forums.

re systems. Planned maintenance is coordinated to avoid 16 times when weather might pose a risk to the power system. 17 18 Figure 10 – System Availability for Customer Notification of Outages 2025 % of Hours % of hours System was System wa...

AI summary The 2025 Annual Performance Standards Report details system availability for customer outage notifications, highlighting the Data Network's 33.42% downtime due to a cyber incident and containment efforts. Contingency plans maintained outage map availability during this period, with ADMS at 99% uptime and HVCA at 99.8%.

2 The 2025 performance standards results demonstrate that NS Power’s plans to improve reliability, 3 customer experience and adverse weather response are working. Structuring the business to focus 4 on Reliability with the creation of a Re...

AI summary NS Power's 2025 performance shows improved reliability through vegetation management and equipment replacement, reducing outages by 20% from tree contacts and equipment failures. Adverse weather standards were met, but a cyber event in April 2025 impacted customer service metrics, though core operations remained unaffected. NS Power remains on track to meet reliability targets while balancing cost efficiency.

2025 Annual Performance Standards Report (NSEB M12784) NSPI Responses to Nova Scotia Energy Board Information Requests NON-CONFIDENTIAL 1 Request IR-23: 2 3 Page 25 of the report and Appendix A and Appendix B 4 5 (a) Please confirm, or exp...

AI summary NSPI confirms a correlation between reduced service levels (June 2025) and increased billing concerns starting May 2025. The cyber incident significantly impacted customer service complexity, requiring manual resolution due to system outages. Billing confusion and estimate inaccuracies drove elevated call volumes, with 2023-2024 baselines referenced for comparison.

1 Request IR-26: 2 3 Page 36 and Appendix G of the report states: 4 5 “The elevated Polite Disconnect rate in 2025 is attributable to the impacts 6 of the April 2025 cyber incident, as trunking capacity was limited at the 7 contingency con...

AI summary The 2025 cyber incident limited NS Power's contingency contact centre trunking capacity due to insufficient desks and phone lines, which could not be rapidly scaled. The contingency site was designed for short-term disaster use, prioritizing safety-critical calls over routine traffic, leading to elevated Polite Disconnect rates.

1 Request IR-1: 2 3 Refer to M12784, Exhibit N-1, Nova Scotia Power Incorporated ("NS Power") 2025 Annual 4 Performance Standards Report Non-Confidential (the "2025 PSR Report"), Section 3.1 5 Customer Service Standards and Targets, Figure...

AI summary The document contains a request (IR-1) asking NS Power about customer engagement in community forums, billing practices related to delayed payments, impacts on credit ratings, status of 2025 bills affected by a cyber event, and the timeline for restoring billing systems. NS Power's response indicates that customer attendance at forums was not classified by customer class and that many attendees were residential customers with billing concerns.

(b) Following the cyber incident in April 2025, all collections cycles relating to NS Power bills were paused, including reminders, notices, and late fees. Customers were encouraged to pay the estimated bill amount, or an amount they deeme...

AI summary Following a cyber incident in April 2025, NS Power paused all collections cycles, including late fees and reminders, to avoid penalizing customers during the estimated billing period. Customers were encouraged to pay estimated amounts, and the system does not allow restating bills once processed, leading to 'trued-up' usage in subsequent bills.

Document: 330133 Date Filed: May 7, 2026 Page 10 1 Request IR-26: 2 Page 36 and Appendix G of the report states: “The elevated Polite Disconnect rate in 2025 is 3 attributable to the impacts of the April 2025 cyber incident, as trunking ca...

AI summary The document contains requests from the NSEB and the Board seeking clarifications on outage management, ETR processes, data discrepancies, and interruption metrics. Key issues include the impact of a cyber incident on trunking capacity, reconciliation of CI numbers, and customer interruption hours.

Page 1 of 4 1 Request IR-1: 2 Refer to M12784, Exhibit N-1, Nova Scotia Power Incorporated (“NS Power”) 2025 Annual 3 Performance Standards Report Non-Confidential (the “2025 PSR Report”), Section 3.1 Customer 4 Service Standards and Targe...

AI summary The document contains two information requests (IR-1 and IR-2) related to Nova Scotia Power's (NSP) 2025 Performance Standards Report. IR-1 asks about customer participation in forums, delayed bill payments, credit rating impacts, and cyber event effects on billing. IR-2 inquires about the preparation of reliability data figures and their sources. Topics include customer service, billing procedures, cybersecurity, and system reliability.

Impact of the April 2025 Cyber Incident - The two remaining standards that were not achieved relate to customer service performance. These - results were directly affected by the cyber incident identified in April 2025. - Prior to the inci...

AI summary The April 2025 cyber incident impacted customer service performance metrics, particularly metering and billing systems, leading to increased call volumes and estimated billing. NS Power implemented measures such as additional resources, customer outreach, and customer protection actions. By March 31, 2026, systems were restored, and performance has returned to expected levels.

Customer Service Performance Standards In the Report, NS Power explains that the main reason why it failed to achieve the 2 Customer Service Performance Standards was due to the cyber-security incident that occurred in April 2025.

AI summary NS Power failed to meet customer service performance standards due to a cyber-security incident in April 2025, as explained in the Report.

1 interruption frequency index (CKAIFI): 2025 Annual Performance Standards Report, Exhibit N-2 1, page 23. 3 4 2025 was the first year of Nova Scotia Power's Five Year Reliability Plan and the Company claims 5 it made progress in reducing...

AI summary Nova Scotia Power's 2025 Annual Performance Standards Report highlights progress in reducing outage frequency and duration under its Five Year Reliability Plan. However, it failed to meet customer service targets due to a 2025 cyber attack, which impacted call answer rates and estimated bill percentages. The report also notes apparent improvements from vegetation management and tree trimming efforts.

DATE FILED: July 17, 2026 Page 3 of 15 1 2.0 CONSUMER ADVOCATE'S COMMENTS 2 3 The CA acknowledged that there has been an improvement in the indices of reliability (page 1, 4 line 20) and that the increased vegetation management and tree tr...

AI summary The Consumer Advocate (CA) acknowledges improvements in reliability due to vegetation management and tree trimming under the Five-Year Reliability Plan but emphasizes that customer concerns about outage frequency and duration remain unmet. The CA also attributes NS Power's failure to meet customer service standards in 2025 to a cyber incident and suggests flexibility in outage reporting thresholds for 2026.

3.0 SMALL BUSINESS ADVOCATE'S COMMENTS The SBA provided comments about the five standards which NS Power failed to achieve in 2025. 3.1 Customer Service The SBA reviewed the results for both the regular business call response rate and the...

AI summary The Small Business Advocate (SBA) comments on NS Power's failure to meet five standards in 2025, specifically highlighting concerns about customer service and the percentage of estimated bills. The SBA acknowledges the impact of a cybersecurity incident but raises concerns about NS Power's response to increased call volume and the low service level percentages, particularly in November 2025. The SBA suggests that the impacts of estimated bills may be better addressed through ongoing Board matters examining the cybersecurity incident.