Regulator plans two-part inquiry into last year’s cyberattack at N.S. utility

Nova Scotia’s energy regulator is planning a two-part inquiry into last year’s cyberattack at the province’s private power utility.

One set of hearings will examine the technical aspects of the March 2025 cyberattack at Nova Scotia Power where the personal information of 280,000 customers was accessed by a Russia-based actor.

The Nova Scotia Energy Board says a separate investigation will look at how the utility collected and stored customer data and how it estimated bills after losing communication with power metres.

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Politicians have said some of their constituents’ power bills have spiked since the attack, and Premier Tim Houston has criticized the utility over inflated bills and reports of consecutive charges within short periods.

Nova Scotia Power said last week that 75 per cent of its metres had been transmitting accurate data by the end of January.

The utility says all the metres will be back online by the end of March.

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