The Nova Scotia Regulatory and Appeals Board has approved increases for customers of the Region of Queens Water Utility. (Rick Conrad)

More than 1,200 water utility customers in Liverpool and Brooklyn will see a significant spike in their bills this year.

In a decision released Dec. 22, the Nova Scotia Regulatory and Appeals Board has approved an 85 per cent increase in water bills for customers of the Region of Queens Water Utility. Once the full increases take effect, it will mean an extra $300 per year for most residential customers.

The new rates took effect Jan. 1, but the board also ordered the utility to phase in the increases to 2027 to help mitigate “rate shock”. It also ordered that interest on the utility’s debt to the municipality be eliminated, and to adjust the utility’s earnings and debt forecasts.

“The Board finds that the utility is in a difficult position,” board members wrote.

“The Board also finds that, other than the minor adjustments directed above, the required revenues in the application are just and reasonable, and necessary to produce safe, reliable water. Yet its rate increases clearly fall within the definition of ‘rate shock’.”

The average residential customer will now pay $531.28 a year, an immediate 60 per cent increase. It will eventually rise to $664.08 in 2027.

At a hearing on Nov. 19, the region said the utility needed to increase rates dramatically to deal with a mounting $1.4-million deficit.

Mayor Scott Christian told QCCR this week that the board’s decision allows the water utility to pay off some of its deficit and continue to provide good-quality drinking water to its customers.

“I think it’s a fair judgement. It gets us to a place where we can run a water utility in a sustainable way, while helping to cushion the blow a little bit to the consumer in terms of the spike in that rate.”

In November, regional councillors approved a utility assistance rebate for water customers on low incomes. People are eligible for up to a $200 annual break on their water bills.

With that rebate applied, the municipality projects less than a one per cent increase this year for people in the lowest income bracket and about a 40 per cent increase by 2027.

Christian said he understands that even with the rebate, some people will still struggle with the higher water costs.

“The utility for a long time was run in a way that didn’t position us to have a sustainable, solvent utility. I understand for sure that people are having a tough time making ends meet. Any additional cost to folks for running a household is always challenging.”

The Queens Community Health Board had opposed the rate increases at the November hearing.

Board chair Tara Druzina did not want to do an interview this week, but said in an emailed statement that the board is concerned about the size of the rate increases “and the impact they will have on households already under financial pressure.”

She applauded council’s adoption of the rebate, but said the region still needs to address affordability concerns for all users.

The review board also “strongly encouraged” the municipality to begin replacing customers’ water meters, most of which are at least 50 years old.

A 2024 report for the utility found that it was losing up to 69 per cent of its treated water, either through leaks or because the old water meters were inaccurate.

“So it was a bit of a moment of clarity for me that sure, some of it is seeping, weeping, leaking, older pipes,” Christian said.

“But then some of it too is that we’re actually delivering the water and it’s being underreported. It helps us to identify an action in addressing that and getting those metres in place that can actually more accurately report that water consumption.”

Christian said the municipality will begin working on replacing those old meters.

He said he’s not sure when the rate increases will be reflected on people’s water bills.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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Members of the Nova Scotia Regulatory and Appeals Board held a water rate hearing in Liverpool in November. (Rick Conrad)

A decision limiting Halifax Water rate hikes may have implications for the Region of Queens as it waits to hear a decision on its application to double water rates.

The Nova Scotia Regulatory and Appeals Board on Tuesday approved a reduced rate increase for the Halifax region’s water utility.

Halifax Water had asked for a combined 35.6 per cent rise in rates, to be implemented over the first three months of 2026. Provincial regulators called that “rate shock” for customers.

The board denied Halifax Water’s request to include deficit elimination in its application. Removing that would lower the second rate increase by about 10 per cent.

It ordered Halifax Water to return with a modified rate proposal within a week.

“The Board finds that the magnitude of the proposed rate increases, implemented over the first three months of 2026, constitutes ‘rate shock’ for its customers. For residential customers, the combined, compounded rate increase was proposed to be 35.6% from January 1 to April 1, 2026,” the regulator wrote in the decision released Tuesday.

“While Halifax Water provided a reasonable explanation about the need to increase rates to cover some of its higher costs due to inflation and other cost pressures, the Board finds that other requested costs were not justified or that the utility overestimated some of those costs.”

The Halifax and Queens water rate applications are very different. For example, Queens is asking regulators for a combined 102 per cent increase over three years. It also has equipment and infrastructure problems Halifax doesn’t.

At the Region of Queens hearing in November, municipal officials warned that without an immediate 85 per cent hike, the whole water system could be in jeopardy. 

They said the Region of Queens water utility has been undercharging its 1,200 customers in Liverpool and Brooklyn for years. And because of that, the infrastructure is outdated and needs to be repaired or replaced.

The water utility is supposed to pay for itself through what it charges customers.

The region says it needs to jack up rates immediately to stem a $516,000 deficit. If rates don’t rise, that deficit is expected to swell to more than $3 million by 2027/28.

But during the hearing, board members challenged the region’s past accounting practices and their claims from the last time they asked for an increase in 2021.

Board chair Bruce Fisher opened the hearing by characterizing the region’s application as “rate shock”.

“As there’s a fairly significant rate increase, the board did issue an additional set of information requests. Essentially, we wanted to have additional information on the record in advance of this hearing so we could discuss potential options to deal with what I would say is rate shock.”

The only intervenor in the hearing, the Queens Community Health Board, opposed the region’s application, saying that granting such a large increase would be rate shock for customers.

Fisher also told the region later in the hearing that the size of their request was unusual.

“We don’t typically see 100 per cent rate increases.”

At the end of the hearing, the board had asked for more evidence from the region to support its application. That was received on Nov. 28.

The board aims to file its decisions within 90 days after they receive final evidence. So the decision in the Region of Queens water case will likely be available in late February.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen to the audio version of this story below