industry electricity generation transmission and distribution founded april 29 1920 1920 04 29 headquarters fredericton new brunswick canada area served new brunswick key people ga tan thomas president 1 2 services electricity revenue c 1 635 million 2010 3 operating income c 170 million 2010 3 net income c 117 million 2010 3 total assets c 5 379 million 2010 4 total equity c 174 million 2010 4 owner government of new brunswick number of employees 2 361 2013 5 8 website www.nbpower.com nb power french nergie nb formerly known as the new brunswick power corporation and the new brunswick electric power commission is the primary electrical utility in the canadian province of new brunswick . nb power is a vertically integrated crown corporation wholly owned by the government of new brunswick and is responsible for the generation transmission and distribution of electricity . 6 3 nb power serves all the residential and industrial power consumers in new brunswick with the exception of those in saint john edmundston and perth andover who are served by saint john energy energy edmundston 7 and the perth andover electric light commission 8 respectively . contents 1 history 1.1 interwar period 1.2 post war era 1.3 point lepreau 1.4 proposed sale to hydro qu bec 2 corporate structure 2.1 valuation 2.2 2003 reorganization 2.3 2013 reorganization 3 personnel 4 operations 4.1 power generation 4.1.1 thermal generation 4.1.2 nuclear generation 4.1.3 hydroelectric generation 4.2 electric transmission 4.3 coal mining 5 financial results 6 see also 7 references 8 further reading 9 external links history edit the development of the electricity industry in new brunswick started the 1880s with the establishment of small private power plants in saint john fredericton and moncton . over the next 30 years other cities successively electrified so much so that in 1918 more than 20 companies were active in the electricity business which left the province with wildly differing levels of services and prices . in saint john for instance the rates fluctuated between 7.5 to 15 cents per kilowatt hour depending on the location and the monthly consumption . 9 interwar period edit recognizing the important role that electricity was about to play in economic development premier walter e. foster proposed the creation of a provincially owned electric company . the legislative assembly passed a bill to that effect . the new brunswick electric power commission nbepc was created on april 24 1920 under the ministry of peter veniot public works . immediately the commission headed by its first president c. w. robinson launched the construction of a c 2 million hydroelectric dam at musquash west of saint john . to supply the cities of saint john moncton and sussex a 88 miles 142 km long high voltage power line was also built . 10 the new earth dam was completed on time in 1922 . but it could not withstand the 1923 spring flood and collapsed 10 an accident which shattered a bit of confidence in the new commission . the building of a larger facility in grand falls on the upper saint john river was undertaken in 1926 by a subsidiary of international paper company and completed in 1930 . 10 electricity demand increased during that decade and more generation facilities were required to supply the province . the commission decided to take advantage of coal resources in the minto area and built a plant near the mines . the grand lake generating station was commissioned in 1931 and then expanded five years later . 11 post war era edit the floodgates of the grand falls generating station during the annual freshet of the saint john river . demand for electricity exploded during world war ii and led to rationing in the late 1940s . 12 meanwhile the commission embarked on the construction of two major dams on the saint john river the tobique and beechwood generating stations which were respectively commissioned in 1953 and 1955 . see below regarding first nations relations . the new brunswick electric power commission bought the grand falls generating station in 1959 12 and began work on the province s largest hydroelectric facility the mactaquac dam whose first three units were put on stream in 1968 . 13 however the new hydroelectric developments proved insufficient to bridge the imbalance between supply and demand which grew by 12 % per annum between 1960 and 1975 . to cope with this demand growth the commission began construction of the oil fired courtenay bay generating station near the saint john shipyard in 1959 ; it was also adjacent to the irving oil refinery which entered service in the late 1950s and which the courtney bay gs made use of a pipeline running from the canaport offshore loading facility at red head to the refinery . the first 50 mw turbine was put in service at courtney bay gs the next year while two more units were added in 1965 and 1966 . 13 to better serve northern new brunswick another oil fired plant the dalhousie generating station was constructed in darlington with an initial capacity of 100 mw . it was commissioned in 1969 . 13 in the early 1970s the nbepc signed a series of supply contracts with new england distributors justifying the construction of its largest power plant in 1972 . with three 335 mw units the oil fired coleson cove generating station was completed in january 1977 . however the 1973 oil shock made the operation of thermal plants more expensvie since oil prices rose from us 3 to us 37 per barrel between 1973 and 1982 . the company which was renamed nb power nergie nb during that time needed to explore other generating options . 14 point lepreau edit main article point lepreau nuclear generating station the construction of a nuclear plant in new brunswick had been discussed since the late 1950s . for over 15 years engineers from the nbepc visited the chalk river laboratories to keep abreast of the latest trends in the field . 14 formal talks between the provincial and federal governments began in 1972 and discussions between representatives of premier richard hatfield and atomic energy of canada accelerated the following year . in the aftermath of the oil crisis the province wanted to secure a source of electricity whose prices would be less volatile than oil . however project financing was still an issue . 15 the federal government then announced a loan program to help provinces such as new brunswick in january 1974 . ottawa s pledge to cover half of the cost of a first nuclear plant removed the last obstacle to construction of the point lepreau nuclear generating station . on february 5 1974 hatfield announced his decision to build the plant 20 miles 32 km west of saint john and even raised the possibility of constructing a second one in the future . on may 2 1975 the canadian atomic energy commission authorized the construction of two 640 mw units within a site that can accommodate a maximum of four reactors . 15 labour unrest design problems and skyrocketing construction costs significantly increased the plant s price tag . the total price of the first operational candu 6 in the world was estimated at 466 million dollars in 1974 . 16 inflation between 1978 1982 was 46 % this increased the costs for all infrastructure projects in canada . projects like darlington nuclear generating station and point lepreau had priced their estimates before the inflation . when it became operational 8 years later on february 1 1983 the cost had soared to c 1.4 billion . 15 proposed sale to hydro qu bec edit main article proposed sale of nb power on october 29 2009 the premiers of new brunswick and quebec signed a memorandum of understanding to sell most of nb power s assets to hydro qu bec . 17 this agreement was reached after nine months of negotiations undertaken at the request of new brunswick 18 and would have transferred most generation transmission and distribution assets of the new brunswick utility to a subsidiary of the quebec based crown corporation including the point lepreau nuclear generating station and 7 hydroelectric plants but would have excluded fossil fuel fired plants in dalhousie belledune and coleson cove . 19 the memorandum of understanding fostered a spirited public debate in new brunswick and atlantic canada . despite positive feedback from the province s business leaders 20 21 many reactions to the mou were hostile . opposition parties newfoundland and labrador premier danny williams 22 the union representing most nb power employees 23 and wind energy supporters 24 quickly condemned the agreement as detrimental to the interests of new brunswick . opponents in the general public used social media to show their displeasure and contest the various arguments for the deal . on facebook 14 000 people joined a group in opposition to the sale within five days of the announcement . 25 a demonstration organized by the group and trade unions drew approximately 600 people outside the legislative assembly building on november 17 2009 . 26 a leger marketing opinion poll conducted on behalf of quebecor media newspapers in new brunswick and quebec in november 2009 showed that 60 % of new brunswickers polled opposed the proposed sale while 22 % supported it . 27 after months of controversy new brunswick and quebec representatives signed a second agreement in january 2010 reducing the scope of the sale . under the revised agreement the sale would have transferred nb power s hydroelectric and nuclear power plants to hydro quebec for c 3.4 billion . the government of new brunswick would have retained the transmission and distribution divisions of nb power and the crown corporation would have entered into a long term power purchase agreement ppa with hydro qu bec . the ppa would have allowed nb power to deliver the rate freeze for residential and general customers . however the industrial rates rollback would have been smaller than under the original mou . 28 on march 24 2010 premier graham announced the failure of the second agreement due to hydro qu bec s concern over unanticipated risks and costs associated with matters including dam security and water levels . 29 this interpretation was contested by analysts who blamed the collapse of the deal on the political situation in new brunswick . 30 31 corporate structure edit a nb power lineman working on a transmission tower in saint john . the future of nb power has been a concern of successive new brunswick governments for the past 15 years when . the liberal government of raymond frenette published a consultation document in february 1998 to find solutions to ensure the sustainability of nb power in the twenty first century . 32 valuation edit shortly after taking office in 1999 the conservative government of bernard lord commissioned td securities to conduct an assessment of the company s viability . the study whose findings were published in 2009 suggested four scenarios the status quo ; a sale to a strategic buyer ; privatization through a share offering ; or splitting the utility into separate elements . the report valued the company at between c3 .6 and c4 .5 billion . 33 this number however was very strongly contested by those familiar with the value of telecommunications rights of way and smart grid based services energy related and otherwise who considered the distribution network to have very much more value . these arguments were to be repeated often in the 2009 2010 nb power controversy . citation needed between 2001 and 2004 the lord government spent c 3.2 million to retain the services of cibc world markets and salomon smith barney in order to evaluate the resale value of the point lepreau and coleson cove power plants . the studies codenamed cartwheel and lighthouse have assessed the value of these assets to roughly c 4.1 billion