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Two doors into Nova Scotia energy
Whatever you need, it lives in one of these two hubs. Pick whichever matches your situation.
Energy guides
5 plain-English guides on Nova Scotia Power rates, setting up service, heating with oil, electricity or a heat pump, stacking rebates and paying your bill.
Distributors
Nova Scotia Power and Eastward Energy as the two main utilities, plus the five town electric utilities — Antigonish, Berwick, Lunenburg, Mahone Bay, Riverport.
Nova Scotia distributors directory
See all distributorsYour distributor is fixed by your address — and it is also your retailer. Pick yours for contact details, outage lines and how it works.
All Nova Scotia energy guides
Open the guides hub5 guides, organised by cluster. Every one is plain English.
A residential Nova Scotia Power bill in 2026 runs on a fixed monthly base charge of $20.08 plus an energy charge of 19.128 cents per kWh, effective May 1. The 15% HST applies, but the provincial 10% portion on home energy is rebated automatically through the Your Energy Rebate Program. There is no competing supplier to switch to: the levers are consumption and rebates, not retail choice.
Setting up or transferring electricity in Nova Scotia is a single call to Nova Scotia Power, unless your new address sits inside one of the five town-owned utilities (Antigonish, Berwick, Lunenburg, Mahone Bay, Riverport), in which case the town opens your account. Here is the checklist, the timing, and the move-day details that stop you arriving to a dark house.
Nova Scotia homes split almost evenly between heating oil (32%) and electricity (32%), with wood at 10% and natural gas at just 5% because the gas network reaches only the Halifax area and a handful of counties. Heat pumps are already a fifth of all heating equipment and rising fast. The fuel you heat with sets your winter bill far more than any Nova Scotia Power rate change.
Efficiency Nova Scotia is the front door: a Home Energy Assessment unlocks heat-pump and envelope rebates, HomeWarming delivers free upgrades to income-qualified households, and the federal Oil to Heat Pump Affordability program stacks on top for oil-heated homes. The programs and the order you apply in are durable; the dollar amounts move, so verify before you commit.
Equal Billing spreads the winter spike across twelve interest-free payments; a payment arrangement pauses interest while you catch up on arrears; the Heating Assistance Rebate Program puts cash toward heat for lower-income households each winter; and Nova Scotia Power cannot disconnect you when it is freezing. Here is how each tool works and the order to use them.
One investor-owned monopoly, an independent regulator
Nova Scotia is a regulated market with no retail competition — and, unusually, its single utility is privately owned, so profits flow to Emera shareholders.
One utility, a handful of town systems, one independent regulator.
Nova Scotia Power Inc. (NSPI), a subsidiary of Emera, generates, transmits and distributes electricity to about 95% of the province. Five town-owned utilities run their own local wires and buy bulk power from NSPI. Eastward Energy distributes natural gas in a narrow Halifax-area corridor. All answer to the Nova Scotia Energy Board (NSEB). There is no retail competition for residential electricity.
Investor-owned, generation to retail, for ~95% of NS. Five town utilities serve the rest and buy bulk power from NSPI.
A small franchised network of about 8,500 customers in the Halifax corridor. Most of NS has no gas service at all.
The Nova Scotia Energy Board (formerly the NSUARB) reviews and approves what the utility may charge through public hearings.
Nova Scotia vs the rest of Canada
Nova Scotia shares its privately-owned-monopoly model with neighbouring PEI. Quebec runs a low-cost Crown hydro utility; Alberta is fully deregulated.
Like NS: Maritime Electric, a Fortis company, with no retail choice and a strong heat-pump push.
A Crown hydro utility with low rates, the opposite of NS on both ownership and price.
Albertans pick from dozens of retailers. The wires stay regulated.
How Nova Scotia got here
From a publicly-owned power commission to privatisation, an Emera utility and the push off coal.
The Nova Scotia Power Commission is created to electrify the province, the public ancestor of today's utility.
The province consolidates electric utilities into the Crown-owned Nova Scotia Power Corporation, a publicly owned monopoly.
Nova Scotia Power is privatised in one of Canada's largest share offerings, becoming an investor-owned utility answerable to shareholders.
NSPI is reorganised under the Emera holding company, a publicly traded energy group headquartered in Halifax.
Wind build-out and the Maritime Link tie-in to Newfoundland hydro begin shifting the province away from imported coal.
Nova Scotia targets the phase-out of coal generation and pushes heat-pump adoption with a deep rebate stack to cut oil and electric-heat bills.
The 60-second mental model
Three actors — and the NSEB reviews the rate.
Historically heavy on imported coal, now adding wind and importing hydro through the Maritime Link. That fuel mix is part of why rates run high.
NS Power owns the wires for ~95% of the province; five towns run their own local grid and buy bulk power from NSPI. Eastward Energy delivers gas. No competitive layer.
The Nova Scotia Energy Board reviews every rate application in public hearings and approves what the utility may charge.
So what does this actually mean for you?
Six concrete things that change because you are a Nova Scotia energy consumer.
You cannot pick a power retailer. Nova Scotia Power bills almost everyone, set by your address. Your savings come from usage, heating choice and rebates, not switching.
Oil and electricity each heat about a third of NS homes. Moving off oil or baseboards toward a heat pump is the single biggest move on a winter bill.
When the NSEB approves a rate, that is the rate. The hearing record is public; it is where customer and shareholder interests are weighed against each other.
Efficiency Nova Scotia, the federal oil-to-heat-pump program and the Heating Assistance Rebate stack into a strong offer. Apply them in the right order.
Nova Scotia Power cannot disconnect a residential customer when it is freezing. Equal Billing and payment arrangements keep the winter spike manageable.
Power out? Nova Scotia Power 1-877-428-6004 (24/7). Smell gas on the Eastward network? Leave, then call Eastward Energy 1-866-313-3030, or 911 first if anyone is hurt.
Energy in other provinces & territories
Canada energy homeEvery province and territory runs its energy market differently. Compare Nova Scotia with its neighbours.
Frequently asked questions
Start with the right guide
The Nova Scotia guide library covers the 2026 rates, setting up service, heating with oil, electricity or a heat pump, stacking rebates and paying your bill.