N.S. utility says billing issues will be fixed in March — one year after cyberattack – Halifax

Nova Scotia’s private power utility says its automatic billing system that was disrupted by a cyberattack almost a year ago should be back to normal next month.

Nova Scotia Power says it has been forced to estimate the electricity bills of some of its customers because its metres were not able to transmit usage data to the company.

The Emera Inc.-owned utility says a Russia-based actor launched a ransomware attack in March 2025 and accessed the personal and financial data of 280,000 ratepayers.

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Premier Tim Houston has criticized the utility over reports of inflated bills and consecutive charges within short periods.

Nova Scotia Power says about 400,000 of its metres, about 75 per cent of the total, were working and sending accurate billing data to the utility at the end of January.

It says the rest of the 530,000 metres should be working again by March.

Nova Scotia Power says it has not been charging customers interest or late fees since the cyberattack.

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Premier calls for investigation into Nova Scotia Power over handling of cyberattack