How Nova Scotia's regulated market works
Nova Scotia kept its electricity market a regulated monopoly rather than introducing retail competition, but unlike most provinces its dominant utility is privately owned. Nova Scotia Power, a subsidiary of the publicly-traded Emera Inc., generates, transmits, distributes and bills for about 95% of the province under rates set by the Nova Scotia Energy Board. Five small town utilities (Antigonish, Berwick, Lunenburg, Mahone Bay, Riverport) run their own wires and buy bulk power from Nova Scotia Power. Natural gas reaches only a corner of the province through Eastward Energy.
Generates, transmits and distributes electricity across about 95% of NS. An Emera company, regulated by the Nova Scotia Energy Board. About 550,000 customers. No residential retail competition.
Franchised gas distributor (formerly Heritage Gas). About 8,500 customers across seven counties including Halifax. Most of NS is off the gas network and heats with oil, electricity or heat pumps.
The five guides, organized by what you need
Each cluster groups the guides that solve the same kind of household question. Read in the order shown for the most useful flow, or jump to whichever guide matches your current decision.
Nova Scotia Power rates and your account
How a regulated, investor-owned monopoly sets the price of your electricity, what the base charge and energy charge actually pay for, and the mechanics of setting up or moving a Nova Scotia Power account, including the five town utilities that bill their own residents.
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.
Heating your Nova Scotia home
Nova Scotia is split almost evenly between heating oil and electricity, with heat pumps now a fifth of all home heating equipment and natural gas reaching only a corner of the province. This is the decision that drives your winter bill more than any rate change.
Rebates, assistance and bill help
How Efficiency Nova Scotia, the federal oil-to-heat-pump program, the Heating Assistance Rebate and the Your Energy Rebate Program stack into one strategy, and the payment tools and protections that keep a Nova Scotia Power bill manageable through winter.
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.
See how every province's market works, plus the cross-Canada programs that apply wherever you live.
Frequently asked questions
See every Nova Scotia distributor
Nova Scotia Power plus the five town utilities for electricity, plus Eastward Energy for natural gas: contact, outage lines and territories on one page.