Nova Scotia Power procurement audit
The Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board retained Bates White to conduct an audit of Nova Scotia Power, Inc.’s (NSPI) fuel and energy procurement, fuel management, and generation production. NSPI is an electric utility that provides 95% of electricity to its 500,000 customers in its province. Bates White analyzed two years of NSPI’s transactional and operational data, assessing the economics of the utility’s decision making in buying and selling natural gas, fuel oil, and other fuels for use at its generating plants, as well as purchases of power from third parties. Bates White also reviewed (1) NSPI’s commitment and dispatch of its generating plants to determine if the utility followed economic principles in choosing which plants to operate, (2) the utility’s forecasting and planning models, and (3) the utility’s financial hedging program and transactions over the two-year period. Bates White issued its audit report in July; the hearing takes place in January 2020.