Our ongoing commitment to reliability

Our customers deserve power they can count on. To ensure we are providing reliable service, there are performance standards in place that are set by the Nova Scotia Energy Board (formerly the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board).

The standards hold us accountable to our customers and they also provide a public record of how the electrical system is performing and a scorecard on whether those targets are being met. Along with quarterly updates throughout the year, every March we file an Annual Performance Standards Report.

Last year (2024) we achieved all but two of the 14 performance standards. The two targets missed relate to the average length of time our customers’ power service was interrupted.

While we never want customers to lose power for any length of time, 2024 marked one of our best years of reliability performance. The results also outperformed the most recent national average for length and frequency of outages. We are making progress in our efforts to improve and strengthen the system by removing trees from power lines, replacing and upgrading equipment, and modernizing the grid. But we know there is more work to do.

We understand how challenging power outages can be, and our team is committed to doing everything we can to reduce and shorten them.

Our Five-Year-Reliability Plan    

To do that we have developed a Five-Year Reliability Plan. The $1.3 billion plan will see us invest in programs focused on improving the reliability of service over the next five years (2025–2029). The plan is designed to reduce the length of outages by 20 percent from the current five-year average and reduce the frequency of outages by a similar amount. This will position us to consistently meet these two Performance Standards targets by 2029.  The investments will focus on strengthening the system and taking proactive measures to address the challenges posed by climate change and the extreme weather we are experiencing more often. The highlights of the plan include:

• Investing over $250 million a year in the transmission and distribution system—a $60 million annual increase over 2023–2024 levels 
• Installing bigger, stronger poles to better withstand wind gusts of 110km/hour
• Continuing to use line inspection data to target proactive work and replace and upgrade power line equipment
• Modernizing the grid using new technologies to better detect and address issues in real time
• Continuing to invest $45 million a year in tree trimming (2025–2029)—nearly double the investment over the previous five-year annual amount—to continue tackling the biggest cause of outages
• Hiring more field staff by more than doubling our 2024 Powerline Technician Apprentice Program
• Continuing community meetings and conversations to ensure the priorities raised by customers and community partners are reflected in plans to improve service in those areas

We are seeing positive trends in the performance of the system. We know we have a lot more work to do, and we have a Five-Year Reliability Plan to continue moving in the right direction. You want and deserve reliable power, and our team is committed to providing it.

Learn more about reliability work taking place across the province here >

You can read the 2024 Annual Performance Standards Report here >