LUNENBURG, 16 January 1998 — Lunenburg County's three municipally-owned electric utilities and three others from Antigonish, Berwick, and Canso have joined together to form Nova Scotia's first ever inter-municipal co-operative. The new Municipal Electric Utilities of Nova Scotia Co-operative Limited held its first organizational meeting in the Town of Lunenburg January 16, 1998. Representatives from the three utilities named above as well as Lunenburg, Riverport, and Mahone Bay attended. The group elected its executive officers. They include Antigonish Mayor Ron MacDonald, chairman; Lunenburg Mayor Laurence Mawhinney, vice-chairman; and Valerie Romkey of Riverport Electric as secretary-treasurer. Member municipalities see the new organization as a way to share expertise and resources, while also gaining a stronger voice with which to raise concerns. Current initiatives being explored include joint purchasing, emergency response measures, a look at future energy requirements, and the promotion of economic benefits derived from what they term "the cost-effective distribution of electricity via municipal electric utilities." Mayor MacDonald said, "The formation of the co-operative should prove beneficial to member utilities in addressing changes which may occur in the manner in which electric services are delivered. During this past year and one half it was a pleasure to have the opportunity to meet and discuss common concerns."
[The Lunenburg Progress Enterprise, 4 February 1998]
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ICS (webmaster) — At this time (1998), there were seven small independent electric utilities in Nova Scotia. "Independent" means independent of Nova Scotia Power Incorporated (NSPI), the big provincial utility. All seven of the independents were municipally-owned and all were decades older than NSPI. Each of these electric utilities operated an electric distribution system within its own government-defined monopoly territory, and anyone located within one of these territories was required to buy their electric power from the local utility. In alphabetical order, these independent utilities were:
Town of Antigonish Berwick Electric Commission Town of Canso Kentville Electric Commission Town of Lunenburg Town of Mahone Bay Riverport Electric Light Commissioners Six of the seven were members of this new co-operative. The seventh was Kentville Electric (KEC), owned by the Town of Kentville, which had decided, by a majority vote of the Town Council on 9 July 1997, to sell KEC to NSPI. KEC had been involved in the preliminary discussions which led to the formation of the Municipal Electric Utilities of Nova Scotia Co-operative, but the decision to sell KEC kept it from becoming a member of the new Municipal Electric Utilities of Nova Scotia Co-operative. As of late February 1998, the sale of KEC was in the final stages — a series of public hearings by the Utilities and Review Board, which, under the laws of the province, had to give its approval to the sale. |
During this past year and one half it was a pleasure for the representatives of the Municipal Electric Utilities to have the opportunity to meet and discuss common concerns. The formation of the Cooperative resulted from these discussions and should prove beneficial to the member utilities in addressing changes which may occur in the manner in which electric services are delivered.
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Names and Addresses of Subscribers [Shareholders] with the Number of Shares Taken by Each 26 September 1997
Witness to above signatures: Don Regan Address: Box 653, Berwick, N.S. B0P 1E0 Occupation: Utility Superintendent Telephone: (902) 538-9058 |
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Addresses January 1998
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