‘It will save money,’ says N.S. premier of regional electricity operator

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The Maritime provinces are studying whether they should deepen integration of their electricity grids, and officials in Nova Scotia say their interest is based largely on energy affordability.

“It will save money,” Premier Tim Houston told reporters Tuesday, referring to a regional electricity system operator.

“We're all running our own independent grids. That means we need to have redundant capacity just in case something happens and we can make sure we can power homes and businesses.”

Planning for and operating a regional grid could eliminate redundancy, Houston said.

Houston and the premiers of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island signed a memorandum of understanding last week, committing to explore greater co-operation on the electricity file.

“It’s just about working together to try to stabilize rates,” Houston said.

The first stage is creating a “road map” for deeper grid integration, which is expected this fall, followed by a cost assessment next spring. MacLeod said deputy ministers and other staff from the energy departments in each province, as well as officials from electric utilities, will participate. 

Source: Wikipedia