Energy and Growth: is New Brunswick ready for what comes next?

The NB Power Comprehensive Review arrives at a consequential moment. The province is navigating real economic pressures like rising costs, a tightening labour market, and global uncertainty that makes planning harder than it used to be. Against that backdrop, the energy system’s ability to support long-term growth demands serious attention.

The New Brunswick Business Council welcomes this independent Review. Not because the answers are simple, but because the questions are overdue. How New Brunswick powers its economy over the next decades will shape where investment flows, whether industries can expand, and whether the province can build the kind of prosperity that sustains strong public services for everyone.

 

Energy and economic growth are inseparable

It is worth being clear about why this matters beyond the utility sector. Energy availability, reliability, and costs are increasingly among the first considerations for companies deciding where to locate and invest. That is true for manufacturers, data centres, agri-food processors, and the emerging clean industries that will define the next generation of our economy.

When businesses have confidence in the cost, reliability, and long-term trajectory of their energy supply, they invest. When that confidence is absent, decisions are deferred or made elsewhere. New Brunswick has real competitive strengths. The energy system should reinforce those strengths, whether dealing with electricity, natural gas or other energy sources.

Growth also matters for a reason that goes beyond business. A growing private sector generates the tax revenue that funds healthcare, education, and the infrastructure communities rely on. Energy enables growth. That connection deserves to sit at the centre of how this review frames its work.

 

Good decisions require an informed public

Energy literacy matters here. When citizens understand how the system works, what drives costs, and what the trade-offs look like between different paths forward, the conversations around major investments become more grounded and the outcomes more durable. Public support built on understanding holds.

This is about ensuring that New Brunswickers have access to clear, honest information about the choices being made on their behalf. This Review is an opportunity to model that kind of transparency from the outset.

 

The decisions ahead are genuinely significant

One of the reasons this Review matters is the scale of what lies ahead; Mactaquac, Point Lepreau, new generation capacity, transmission investment, and the gradual electrification of industries that have historically run on fuels. These are not routine decisions. They involve long time horizons, substantial capital, and trade-offs that will be felt for 30 to 40 years.

The system is also growing more complex. More variable and distributed generation, storage, and rapidly shifting demand patterns require planning approaches that go well beyond what was needed decades ago.

The Review’s acknowledgment of rate competitiveness concerns is an important question. The observation that certain industrial users may benefit from greater flexibility in how they procure and manage their energy is worth pursuing carefully. How that is structured matters. Any approach will need to be designed with the broader rate base in mind, ensuring costs are not shifted onto households and smaller businesses. Getting that balance right is one of the more consequential tradeoffs the system will need to navigate.

 

The regional dimension is an opportunity worth pursuing

New Brunswick’s energy system does not exist in isolation. It is interconnected with neighbouring provinces and states, and the case for deeper regional coordination with electricity and natural gas has been growing for some time. The Council’s Atlantic Energy Future work has explored this in some depth.

There is a genuine opportunity here. Coordinating across the region can reduce the need for duplicative infrastructure, spread the risk associated with major capital investments, and improve overall system resilience. It can also unlock access to a broader mix of generation resources. These are not abstract benefits. They translate into better outcomes for businesses and households alike.

Thinking regionally is not a departure from acting in New Brunswick’s interest. Done well, it advances it.

 

Private investment requires a clear and stable direction

The capital required to modernize and expand New Brunswick’s energy system will not come from public sources alone. Private investment will be necessary. And private investment, by its nature, requires clarity about direction, timelines, and how decisions will be made.

This is not an unreasonable ask. Businesses and investors planning years ahead need confidence that the framework around them is stable and coherent. A review that produces a clear, long-term direction and a credible commitment to following it will do more to attract the capital our system needs than any single project announcement.

Predictability is not a constraint on ambition. It is what makes ambition fundable.

 

What we are hoping to see

The New Brunswick Business Council will be following what recommendations get actioned first to have the most impact on the trajectory of the province’s electricity and energy future.  We are looking for a long-term plan that treats energy as a driver of economic growth, not just a cost to be managed. One that positions New Brunswick to attract investment, support industrial expansion, and sustain competitive rates over time. And one that is designed to endure beyond any single political cycle.

Underlying all of this is a need the Review alone cannot fulfill. New Brunswick requires a comprehensive provincial energy strategy.  One that goes beyond the mandate of any single utility and looks at the full picture of how energy is produced, distributed, priced, and consumed across the economy. The provincial government’s recent NB Growth Strategy signals an intention to lead that work. The Council welcomes that commitment. NB Power is central to any such strategy, but it must also encompass industrial users, emerging technologies, economic development priorities, and the province’s long-term competitiveness. A utility review without that broader strategic frame risks solving for the parts without addressing the whole.

 

About The New Brunswick Business Council

The New Brunswick Business Council (NBBC) consists of leaders and CEOs who each have a deep, personal stake in this province and its future. They adopt a forward-looking, positive perspective of what’s possible in New Brunswick and collaborate on real-world issues to find meaningful, fact-driven ways to solve them. The Council works hard to change the narrative in the province—and beyond. The organization prides itself on being a transparent, non-partisan group and believes in a better New Brunswick.