Final bill for runaway Nova Scotia Power hydro project still months away

Nova Scotia Power says it will take at least another five months for it to submit the final bill to complete an ill-fated refurbishment of the Tusket hydro electricity dam in Yarmouth County.

The project is already three years behind schedule with costs still unclear and revised construction plans still needing environmental permits.

The last cost estimate was $36 million — twice the amount approved by regulators in 2019.

The dam site in southwestern Nova Scotia has been plagued by water leaking into the construction zone.

The company filed updated project costs with the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board on Monday showing that it has so far spent $11.4 million more than the amount approved by the board.

The original application to refurbish the nearly century-old dam was submitted in July 2017 with work to be completed in 2019.

The work has been upended by multiple instances of unanticipated water infiltration at the site and fissures in the bedrock underneath the old dam.

The inability to dry out the construction zone forced NSP to temporarily lower the Lake Vaughan reservoir. Securing required federal and provincial environmental permits and consulting with Mi'kmaw have and continue to add to the cost.

How much will this cost ratepayers?

In July 2021, Nova Scotia Power applied for what is known as an "authorization to overspend" $18 million more on the project. It also wants ratepayers to cover the cost. At that point the refurbishment was supposed to be completed by February 2023.

Earlier this year NSP suspended that request saying it was stopping work because water seepage continued.

NSP was supposed to submit an updated authorization to overspend before the end of 2022. But the company now says it needs more time — sometime in the spring of 2023 — before it can submit a new authorization to overspend.

"The construction plan requires a revised approach to water management," the NSP director of regulatory affairs, Brian Curry, wrote to the Utility and Review Board on Oct. 14.

Curry said the company has finalized its preliminary plans to handle its water problems and the dam design is complete. 

"However, additional time beyond what had been originally forecast is required for the company's consultant to complete this work. The detailed water management plan requires approval from the applicable provincial and federal regulatory agencies in order for the company to obtain the necessary permits to proceed with its construction plan, " he said.

He said the final bill is dependent on the feedback received from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Nova Scotia Environment and Climate Change and the Mi'kmaq.

"The company does not wish to file the amended [authorization to overspend] until it has the most accurate cost information and changes to the water management plan may impact the project cost estimate," Curry said.