The premier of Nova Scotia is calling for an investigation into how a major power utility has handled a cyberattack.
Tim Houston says in a letter to the chair of the Nova Scotia Energy Board that he wants the regulator to look into the way the private utility has billed customers since a system breach in March.
Nova Scotia Power, a subsidiary of Halifax-based Emera Inc., has said the personal and financial data belonging to 280,000 ratepayers was accessed by an unauthorized party as early as March 19.
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Since the breach, the utility has said it can no longer rely on remote meter readings and has chosen to estimate electricity consumption for some customers’ billing.
As a result, Houston says customers have been dealing with inflated bills, consecutive charges within short periods, and a lack of communication about billing adjustments.
Houston says customers should not be paying for Nova Scotia Power’s failures, adding that the promise of a fix coming in the future does little to help residents dealing with these issues today.
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