Emera's third-quarter Management Discussion & Analysis

Larry Hughes, PhD

Dalhousie University
15 November 2022

Late last week, Emera released its Management Discussion & Analysis report for the third quarter of 2022.

This quarter's MD&A does not follow the format Emera has used for more than a decade, notably listing the sales and production volumes of its subsidiaries.

For example, the MD&A omits Nova Scotia Power's sales volumes (specifically, their sales of electricity to their residential, commercial, and industrial customers) and production volumes (that is, the electricity generated from sources such as coal, natural gas, petroleum coke, wind, hydro, and purchased power from local and out-of-province producers).

The MD&A makes no mention of the reason for this omission.

In the past, the MD&A has been an opportunity for Nova Scotia Power to show the progress it has been making towards meeting their renewable targets and explaining where there are problems.

A good example of this are the ongoing problems with the Labrador-Island Link (which is out of Nova Scotia Power's control) and Nova Scotia's Renewable Energy Regulations. This quarter's MD&A simply echoes what has been written in earlier MD&A's:

"Construction of the LIL is complete and Nalcor is working toward final commissioning in 2022."

and

"The alternative compliance plan, under the provincially legislated Renewable Energy Regulations, requires NSPI to achieve 40 per cent of electric sales generated from renewable sources over the 2020 through 2022 period. With delivery of the NS Block commencing later than anticipated, as well as further interruptions in supply due to delays in the LIL, NSPI is not forecasting the ability to achieve the requirements of the alternative compliance plan. The Renewable Energy Regulations require NSPI to have acted in a duly diligent manner. If NSPI is found not to have acted in a duly diligent manner, it could be subject to a maximum penalty of $10 million."

By hiding its sales and production volume information, Emera is not doing itself any favours.

Without showing Nova Scotia Power's data for the third-quarter, investors have no indication of where the company is getting its electricity from, what its sales volumes are, and the likelihood of it being subject to the $10 million penalty.

Originally published in allnovascotia.com 16 November 2022