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December 10, 2019

VIA EMAIL

Ms. Doreen Friis

Regulatory Affairs Officer/Clerk
Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board
1601 Lower Water Street, 3rd Floor
Halifax, NS B3J 3S3

Dear Ms. Friis:

Re: Nova Scotia Power – System Reliability

Earlier today over 50,000 customers of Nova Scotia Power experienced power outages. These
outages were a significant burden for ratepayers. Families were disrupted, traffic flow stalled,
business and educational facilities were shuttered.

According to the Nova Scotia Power website, the cause of substantially all of these outages was
“high winds and rain”. Attached are screenshots of the wind conditions in Halifax and
Lunenburg as reported by Environment Canada. This data shows wind speeds of approximately
36-65km/h with gusts only exceeding 80km/h at 5 a.m. in Lunenburg and 7 a.m. in Halifax

Many customers view today’s widespread outages - in the recorded wind conditions - as
demonstrating a subpar level of resiliency and reliability of the Nova Scotia Power system.
Nova Scotia Power should investigate and explain the root cause(s) of the outages experienced
today.

These comments are not meant to detract from the ongoing substantial efforts of Nova Scotia
Power’s restoration crews.
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The Consumer Advocate respectfully requests that the Board initiate a review of today’s outages
to determine whether service provided by Nova Scotia Power has been reasonable in the
circumstances.

Yours truly,

William L. Mahody, Q.C.

Direct: (902) 429-3547
bill@mjswm.com

WLM:cw

Attachments

c Bruce Outhouse
c Brian Curry
c Nancy Rubin
c Nelson Blackburn
c Don Regan