This Act creates the Office of the Energy Sector Consumer Advocate to represent residential and small-business energy consumers in proceedings before the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board, assist consumers with complaints, and promote energy literacy. It replaces the former Public Intervener for the Energy Sector, transfers ongoing files, and repeals the prior statute.
The Act sets out who may be appointed (a practising barrister and solicitor), a multi-deputy nominating committee process, fixed-term limits, confidentiality and immunity protections, and a bespoke funding model that requires the Board to collect and remit operating and direct expenses (with petroleum-related non-attributable costs borne from the petroleum products levy). The Minister has an active role in budget approval and may alter budgets before they are forwarded to the Board.
At a Glance
What It Does
Creates a statutory Office of the Energy Sector Consumer Advocate with authority to intervene in Board proceedings, receive and attempt to resolve consumer complaints, and promote consumer information. It defines funding and reporting rules, audit and annual-report obligations, and repeals the prior Public Intervener law.
Who It Affects
Residential electricity and gas customers and regulated small businesses, regulated entities (gas distributors, NB Power, petroleum retailers and wholesalers), the Energy and Utilities Board, and the provincial Executive (Minister and deputy ministers involved in appointment and budget oversight).
Why It Matters
It institutionalizes consumer representation at the Board with a standing office and predictable funding stream, but embeds executive control points — especially via the nominating committee and Ministerial budget approval — that will shape the Advocate’s operational independence and scope.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The Act establishes a dedicated Office of the Energy Sector Consumer Advocate whose core responsibilities are to advocate for residential and small-business consumers in Board proceedings, assist consumers with electricity, gas and petroleum questions and complaints, and promote energy literacy across the province. The Advocate can intervene in Board proceedings, present and cross-examine witnesses, and refer unresolved complaints to the Board.
For individual complaints the Advocate intervenes only on behalf of the consumer who raised that matter; for specified statutes the Advocate must intervene on behalf of the residential or small-business class the Advocate identifies.
Selection and tenure are tightly prescribed: the Advocate must be a practising lawyer and is appointed by the Lieutenant‑Governor in Council following a nominating committee process that includes deputy ministers and must use a merit-based recruitment process (including a recruited candidate list). The Advocate serves terms of up to five years and may be reappointed within an overall ten-year cap; procedures for acting appointments and continuity for ongoing matters are provided.Funding is handled through the Board.
Each year the Advocate prepares a budget (operating and direct expenses); the Minister approves or rejects it within a statutory window, and the Board collects assessments to cover the approved amounts. The statute distinguishes attributable direct expenses (charged to those responsible for the proceeding) from non-attributable expenses (paid from the petroleum products levy).
The Act also sets quarterly and post‑proceeding accounting filings, auditing obligations, an annual report requirement, and publication timelines.Operational mechanics reinforce confidentiality and legal protection: Office staff and contractors must take oaths of confidentiality, and the Act grants immunity and indemnity for acts done in good faith. Delegation is permitted but cannot be used to delegate the power to refer matters to the Board or to delegate the delegation power itself.
The Act includes a transitional regime that preserves the rights and funding for any proceedings the former Public Intervener was involved in and repeals the earlier Public Intervener statute.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The Consumer Advocate must be a barrister and solicitor in good standing and is appointed by the Lieutenant‑Governor in Council after a nominating committee (which must engage a recruiting firm and use merit-based selection) identifies candidates.
The Advocate’s term is up to five years, reappointment is permitted but total service (including acting service) cannot exceed ten years.
The Advocate must submit a budget by January 15 each year; the Minister has until February 15 to approve or reject it, and a failure to decide results in the budget being deemed approved.
The Board collects and remits the Advocate’s approved operating and direct expenses: operating expenses are assessed as common expenses, attributable direct expenses are assessed against specific parties, and non-attributable petroleum-related expenses are paid from the petroleum products levy.
Decisions by the Consumer Advocate not to examine or not to refer a complaint are final and not subject to judicial review.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Definitions that frame coverage and respondents
This section sets the statutory vocabulary: who counts as a 'consumer' (residential and small business, with definitions left to regulation), what constitutes 'direct' versus 'operating' expenses, and which entities are 'regulated' (retailers/wholesalers under the Petroleum Products Pricing Act, gas distributors, and NB Power). Those definitions determine who can seek help, who the Advocate may intervene against, and how costs are allocated.
Mandate and powers of the Office
Section 2 establishes the Office and its three-part mandate: advocate in Board proceedings, assist consumers, and promote energy literacy. Section 9 enumerates procedural powers — intervene, call witnesses, present evidence, act as intermediary, and refer unresolved complaints to the Board. It also draws lines: when intervening in certain statutory proceedings the Advocate must represent the class (residential or small business) rather than other interests, and in some individual complaint referrals the Advocate may only speak for the consumer who raised the issue.
Nominating committee and appointment mechanics
The nominating committee is composed of deputy ministers (Energy, Justice and Public Safety, Finance) and any additional persons set by regulation. The committee must hire a recruiting firm, apply objective merit-based processes, document its recruitment and selection procedures, and supply candidate assessments to the Lieutenant‑Governor in Council. The Lieutenant‑Governor in Council makes the appointment, and the committee may recommend reappointment but cannot bind the executive.
Term limits, continuity, staffing and delegation
The Act caps terms at five years and total service at ten years (including acting service), requires an oath of office, and allows acting appointments for vacancy or temporary absence with continuity rules for ongoing proceedings. The Consumer Advocate appoints staff on merit and controls remuneration; employees are outside the Civil Service Act. Delegation is broadly allowed except for the power to delegate, the power to refer complaints to the Board, and the power to prepare reports — and the Advocate may add conditions to delegated powers.
Budgeting, assessments, accounting and audit
Sections 18–20 create a multi-step funding process: an initial budget is due shortly after Royal Assent, annual budgets are prepared by the Advocate and approved (or deemed approved) by the Minister, and the Board then collects the approved amounts via assessments under the Energy and Utilities Board Act. The statute separates operating, attributable direct, and non-attributable petroleum expenses and prescribes quarterly and post-proceeding statements of account. The Advocate must appoint an auditor and publish the audit report and an annual report on a fixed schedule.
Confidentiality, immunity and regulation-making
The Act imposes strict confidentiality obligations on the Advocate, staff and contractors and makes breaches grounds for discipline or removal. It also grants statutory immunity for acts done in good faith and indemnifies relevant persons against legal costs except where wilful neglect or default applies. Finally, the Lieutenant‑Governor in Council has broad regulation-making authority to define consumer classes, set nomination details, further prescribe duties, and fix employee caps — leaving substantial implementation detail to regulation.
Transition and repeal of the Public Intervener Act
The Act revokes the Public Intervener appointment and repeals the prior statute but preserves the former intervener’s ability to finish matters they were already handling; it preserves the older definitions for transitional accounting purposes and exempts the Crown from liability arising from revoking the Public Intervener appointment. Sections 18 and 20 were brought into force on Royal Assent to allow immediate budget and assessment steps.
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Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Residential electricity and gas customers — gain a statutory advocate with standing to intervene at the Energy and Utilities Board and to escalate unresolved individual complaints to the Board.
- Small business energy consumers — receive formal representation and the ability to have the Advocate intervene on their behalf in Board proceedings and complaint processes.
- The Energy and Utilities Board — gains a single, institutionalized consumer voice that can consolidate and present consumer perspectives, potentially making hearings more focused and evidentiary submissions more consistent.
Who Bears the Cost
- Regulated entities (gas distributors, NB Power, petroleum retailers and wholesalers) — face assessments to fund the Advocate’s operating and attributable direct expenses and may see increased legal and compliance costs when the Advocate intervenes against them.
- The Minister’s office and deputy ministers — take on substantive roles in appointment and budget oversight (nominating committee composition, budget approvals and potential budget changes), which creates administrative and political responsibility for the office’s functioning.
- The Advocate’s Office — must establish accounting, audit, reporting and staffing systems under a tight timeline (initial budget deadlines were enacted at Royal Assent), and will carry operational risk if Ministerial changes to budgets impair planned activities.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central tension is between insulating a consumer representative from political and industry pressure by giving it statutory standing and a dedicated funding stream, and preserving executive and Board controls (nominating committee makeup, Ministerial budget approval and Board assessment authority) that can steer its scope and resources—an institutional design that trades guaranteed representation for substantive levers of control.
The Act sets up the Advocate as an independent‑sounding office but places several practical levers of influence in the executive branch and the Board. The nominating committee is dominated by deputy ministers and must use a recruiting firm and produce a paper trail; appointments are made by the Lieutenant‑Governor in Council.
The Minister must approve the Advocate’s annual budget within a short statutory window and may amend it before forwarding it to the Board; a deemed‑approval backstop limits deadlock risk but still leaves the Minister with a real intervention point.
Funding through Board assessments insulates the Advocate from annual appropriation cycles but reallocates costs across regulated entities and, for petroleum‑related non-attributable expenses, uses the petroleum products levy. That structure creates cross‑subsidy and allocation questions: which proceedings generate attributable costs and how the Board applies section 50 assessments will materially affect utilities’ bills and competitive dynamics in the petroleum sector.
The Act also narrows certain advocacy routes — the Advocate may only advance the interests of the consumer who raised an individual complaint in some contexts and cannot represent classes other than the consumer class the Advocate is mandated to represent — which could limit systemic advocacy and strategic test cases.
Finally, the Act leaves numerous details to regulation (definitions of residential/small business consumers, number of staff, nomination technicalities and prescribed Acts for intervention). Those delegated powers mean the office’s ultimate reach will depend heavily on forthcoming regulations and on how strictly the Minister and Board exercise their approval and assessment authorities.
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