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Nova Scotia Federation of Municipalities President and Bridgewater Mayor David Mitchell says Nova Scotia Power’s communication during the province’s latest outage was the worst he’s seen — and left municipalities scrambling as the blackout stretched from Sunday night into Monday morning, with some customers still without electricity as of Tuesday afternoon.
More than 100,000 Nova Scotia Power customers across the province lost electricity after heavy, wet snow moved in late Sunday. Mitchell says outages were expected, but the scale and duration didn’t match what the weather suggested.
Bridgewater Mayor David Mitchell. Photo: Town of Bridgewater.
“I was a little surprised at the severity and how widespread the power outages were,” he said. “Speaking specifically about Bridgewater, I was shocked at how many people were impacted and how long it’s taking to restore power in an urban centre.”
Mitchell says the biggest issue wasn’t the storm — it was the lack of information coming from Nova Scotia Power as outages continued well into Tuesday.
He says municipalities typically receive steady liaison updates from the utility during major events. This time, he says, the updates were inconsistent, slow, or missing entirely.
“We normally get regular communication, staff dedicated to liaising with municipal units,” he said. “But I found the updates to be far more infrequent than in the past. Public‑facing communication I felt was lacking.”
Mitchell says residents don’t expect exact restoration times, but they do need timelines reliable enough to plan their day — and businesses especially need certainty so they can staff appropriately during prolonged service interruptions.
“The public doesn’t need the minute their power will come back,” he said. “But they do need to know enough to get on with their day. Businesses can’t go days without knowing what to tell their staff.”
With some outages in Bridgewater and surrounding areas still unresolved as of Tuesday afternoon, Mitchell says the situation raises questions for communities trying to attract and retain employers.
“This exposed more of a crack in the infrastructure than we would have liked,” he said. “We have to make sure we can power the businesses we’re trying to attract.”
As NSFM President, Mitchell says he’s hearing the same concerns from municipalities across Nova Scotia: how did an otherwise routine winter snowfall knock out power to more than ten per cent of the province?
“From every municipal unit, we just need to know why,” he said. “What will be done to prevent this kind of scale in the future? I’m still trying to figure out how they were at such a loss for power.”
The outages come as Nova Scotia Power is seeking an eight‑per‑cent rate increase. Mitchell says if Nova Scotians are being asked to pay more, that money must directly strengthen the grid.
“Rate increases should be going to infrastructure improvements,” he said. “If Nova Scotians are going to be asked to put up more money, that has to come with a more robust power infrastructure and less downtime. The economic impact of this kind of outage is millions and millions of dollars.”
