Across the Maritimes, several communities are served by municipally owned electric utilities rather than larger provincial utilities. While these local utilities vary in size, history, and capacity, they share a strong connection to the communities they serve and a common need to adapt as the energy sector evolves.
To better understand how these utilities are working together, Atlantica recently spoke with Glen Fillmore, Chair of the Maritime Municipal Electric Utility Alliance and Vice President of Strategic Growth and Transformation at Saint John Energy.
The Alliance, launched in February 2025, brings together nine municipally owned electric utilities across New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island to formalize long-standing collaboration, support innovation, and strengthen reliability and efficiency, all while maintaining local ownership and independence.
Why do municipal electric utilities exist in the Maritimes, and what are the benefits and challenges of that model?
Historically, municipalities had the authority to decide how electricity would be delivered in their communities. When provincial utilities were created, some municipalities chose to join them, while others decided to remain independent. Saint John is one example of a community that made that choice and has operated its own electric utility for more than a century.
Glen Fillmore - Chair, MMEUA and VP of Strategic Growth and Transformation, Saint John Energy
Being locally owned and governed means municipal utilities have a strong understanding of the communities they serve, and decisions are made close to the customers affected by them. That local connection helps build strong customer relationships and makes it easier to work closely with municipalities and community organizations.
At the same time, smaller utilities don’t always have the same capacity or resources as larger provincial utilities, which can make complex projects harder to take on alone. That’s where collaboration becomes important. Through the MMEUA, utilities can keep the advantages of being local while sharing experience, knowledge, and opportunities, helping strengthen reliability, affordability, and the overall customer experience.
What kinds of initiatives are underway through the MMEUA?
So far, the focus has been on practical initiatives that help member utilities operate more efficiently and prepare for the future.
Members are working together on grid modernization, smart grid technologies, asset management, and strengthening system resilience. The MMEUA is also creating opportunities to collaborate on funding applications, supply chains, and procurement.
By sharing experiences and lessons learned, utilities can move more quickly from planning to implementation, reduce duplication, and improve value for customers, all while staying aligned with the regulatory frameworks in their territories. Participation is voluntary, and each utility decides what makes sense for its own community.
How does collaboration through the MMEUA help municipal utilities advance clean energy, climate goals, and innovation in practice?
Clean energy and climate action are important priorities for all MMEUA members, and the Alliance’s role is very much about practical, on-the-ground implementation. By working together, utilities can, for example, share experiences that they have had integrating renewable energy into their distribution systems while making sure projects continue to support reliability and affordability.
Collaboration also makes it easier to align clean energy initiatives with broader system planning and existing regulatory frameworks. For smaller utilities, working together can open doors to funding and new technologies that would be difficult to pursue alone. In one example, Saint John Energy worked collaboratively with utilities in Berwick and Mahone Bay on a federal funding application, coordinating their approach rather than working independently.
That kind of cooperation helps save time and resources, improves the chances of success, and allows projects to move from planning to implementation more efficiently.
By openly sharing experiences, challenges, and lessons learned, the Alliance creates space for innovation, building on what’s already been tested and helping utilities move forward in ways that would be much harder to do on their own.
How does collaboration show up in practice?
Much of the collaboration happens behind the scenes. Utilities regularly compare notes, share what’s working, and talk openly about what hasn’t worked. That openness helps members avoid reinventing the wheel and move forward with more confidence.
Member utilities vary widely in size, history, and capacity. Some are further along in areas such as asset management, grid modernization, or new technologies, while others are earlier in that journey. The Alliance creates space for open and transparent sharing of experiences, including what has worked and what has not. The goal isn’t to make every utility the same, but to help raise overall capability by sharing experience, ideas, and lessons learned.
That kind of transparency is also what drives innovation. Innovation doesn’t come from working in isolation, it comes from sharing journeys, challenges, and ideas, and learning from what’s already been tested.
How does the MMEUA fit into the broader electricity system in the Maritimes?
The MMEUA strengthens municipal utilities in ways that support the broader electricity system. Whether that’s in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia or in PEI, the Alliance works within each province’s regulatory environment and planning framework. It does not change the role of provincial utilities, system operators or regulators.
By improving coordination and capacity at the local distribution level, municipal utilities can contribute more effectively to system reliability, efficiency, and long-term planning – creating benefits that extend beyond their own communities.
What is the long-term goal for MMEUA members in the Maritimes?
Serving customers and communities comes first.
Municipal utilities here are focused on reliability, affordability, and the customer experience. By working together, the Alliance helps utilities strengthen those priorities.
How is the MMEUA different from a merger or consolidation?
The Maritime Municipal Electric Utility Alliance is intentionally designed for collaboration, not consolidation.
Each utility remains independently owned, governed, and accountable to the community it serves. The Alliance simply provides a way to work together where it makes sense – sharing expertise, exploring opportunities, and learning from one another, while keeping decisions local.
What is next for the Maritime Municipal Electric Utility Alliance?
We are always working on initiatives that support our member utilities. There are some important developments expected in 2026, but it is too early to share details right now.
For now, I would say stay tuned.
To learn more about the Maritime Municipal Electric Utility Alliance, visit their website.