Like the rest of the country, Nova Scotia is grappling with energy costs that are going through the roof. The provincial power company addressed the issue by trotting off — twice in the past 12 months — to the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board for a rate increase.

Rodney MacDonald’s minority provincial government, under pressure from the public, has addressed the issue by announcing that it will introduce legislation to limit the number of rate increases Nova Scotia Power Inc. can make in a single year.

Earlier this spring, when the promise of sunshine and warmer temperatures still lingered, the utility and review board handed Nova Scotia’s power broker an 8.9% increase. NSPI, which provides more than 97% of electricity to 470,000 customers across the province, was quick to put this rate increase into perspective. It noted that, for the “typical” household, it will amount to an additional $7 on the monthly bill.

To look at this from another perspective, the increase translates into an additional $61 million for NSPI and a steady return on equity of 9.3%-9.8%.

As NSPI president and CEO Chris Huskilson said in a news release: “A rate increase is never good news for our customers.” It does, however, appear to be less distressing for the power corporation itself.

Ambling to the rescue with some rate relief is the provincial government, which is facing voters in a June 13 provincial election.

“We understand the rate increase will be difficult for all Nova Scotians,” said acting Energy Minister Kerry Morash as he announced new legislation to contain those difficult rate increases to once a year.

To its credit, the government is moving to help those most adversely affected by the power price surge.

It has plunked $25-million more into Keep the Heat, a home-heating rebate and efficiency program for low-income Nova Scotians. Seniors are also getting a break. The Department of Energy is offering grants and rebates that will allow seniors to make improvements to their homes to help them save energy and money.

The help comes in the form of rebates and grants. If seniors can plow through the paperwork, they can get a rebate of more than $1,500.

Finally, the government has resigned itself to the fact that oil prices are not likely to go down and rate increases are, therefore, unlikely to be a political issue of the past.

In a move that surprised many, the energy department is offering money to Nova Scotians who are heating outside the furnace. For those who purchase an approved wood stove, there is a $250 thank you.

Perhaps even more impressive is the rebate — up to $500 — the government is dangling for those bright souls who install a solar water heating system.

It seems we have discovered alternative energy, particularly wind energy. Pictures of wind turbines are sprinkled liberally throughout the NSPI Web site.

There is even a section devoted to renewable energy that boasts: “Nova Scotia Power is a Canadian leader in wind energy. We have the highest number of wind turbines east of Quebec. Wind turbines now stretch from Yarmouth County to Inverness County. By 2007, 100 megawatts of Nova Scotia’s power will come from this renewable resource.”

The power corporation is not alone in its bluster. There is a strong sense that living on the edge of an ocean — with demonstrated high winds — may be an advantage in an energy crisis.

Critics charge the government isn’t going far enough, fast enough (its Electricity Act has been stalled in committee for five years), but wind energy is a reality in Nova Scotia. And now there’s money for those who turn in the breeze.

Nova Scotia Power is offering customers what it calls expanded “net metering.” It is allowing — even encouraging — residents to install or increase the size of their own renewable electricity systems (such as wind, solar, micro-hydro, biomass and tidal power) and hook those systems into the provincial grid. When a customer’s energy system produces more power than the household consumes and the power is delivered to the provincial grid, the consumer will receive an energy credit that is applied against future usage.

Energy credits can be banked for up to 12 months. John Woods, a member of the Electricity Consumers Alliance of Nova Scotia, calls this “a wonderful opportunity.”

@page_break@My uncle might be interested in this. He built his own wind generator and has it up and running in his Beaver Bank backyard, about a 30-minute drive from Halifax.

The turbine, a starkly elegant metal monolith, somehow manages to blend into the scenery, a modern maple tree, perhaps without the running of the sap.

Well, perhaps just a little sap.

The wind generator is fully functional and raring to go. There’s only one small problem: there’s not enough wind. So there it sits in all its stark elegance. Still. IE