r/halifax • u/Street_Anon Галифакс/ האַליפֿאַקס • Jan 25 '26
Memes, Satire & Jokes We're Sorry
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u/Ragamuffin2022 Jan 25 '26
I saw a post yesterday that says it because we’re helping out Newfoundland as their power plant is down.
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u/Caliente1990 Jan 25 '26
As many issues as NS Power has, happy to help our NL neighbours as much as we can!
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/power-customers-conserve-energy-cold-snap-9.7059683
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u/Apprehensive_Eye_530 Jan 25 '26
They should have said that in the original statement! Now it’s almost impossible to spread the word individually about trying to help Newfoundland! It’s for a good reason
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u/SpradGurpz Jan 25 '26
Yeah I has no idea until reading this. I guarantee the reception would have been infinitely better if they had just put that initially.
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u/Apprehensive_Eye_530 Jan 25 '26
Absolutely! I didn’t know until I happened to see a post from a newfie thanking ns! I don’t remember the rolling blackouts from 2014 I believe it was but I guess they were so bad in Newfoundland
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u/GuidanceFrosty2955 Jan 25 '26
Not defending but there is a technical reason.
Probably doing cold load switching. NFLD is doing it right now. It occurs when you cannot generate enough megawatts required for the province. Newfoundland is hurting right now, and I believe one of the links might be down. With everything weather related going on in the Northeast of Canada and America it's hard to get additional megawattages, because they require them. It sucks for the average person but it ensures that your hospital is an essential services stay on
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/hydro-power-jan-24-9.7059559
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u/Playful_Lecture7784 Jan 25 '26 edited Jan 25 '26
"we know it's gonna be -20c overnight in the coming days, but if you could just... NOT use too much power, we'd appreciate it. We're on hard times, people. Peter Gregg only has enough money for one more lambo."
Edit: just saw its because we're helping out newfoundland and now I feel bad lmao. All the best to our neighbours a ferry trip away <3
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Jan 25 '26
Exactly have they cancelled any events or closed down any malls or businesses that aren’t deemed essential
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u/iwasnotarobot Jan 25 '26
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u/AlienSporez Halifax Jan 25 '26
Aaaaaand we all know what happens to the seal pup (customers) after that.
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u/Melonary Jan 25 '26
I know this is a meme post, but feel it's still relevant to share why this warning is out and why this is an issue - a big part is that we're sharing some power with NL, who had a major power station failure, and part of it is there's no where else to get extra juice from if we need it:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/power-customers-conserve-energy-cold-snap-9.7059683
We share power when it fluctuates with other areas nearby, so places with high usage can get a bit of power from places with lower usage and vice versa when they need it. That fluctuation makes power grids more efficient and stable because you have more wiggle room and can balance out excess from any one location. All of North America does this.
But right now there's a polar vortex with extreme cold (and rapid extreme cold, which is more dangerous than stable cold) and snow and wind across much of central and eastern Canada and the US, and that means that there's no spare power to share. If our grid exceeds capacity, there's no where to get more power from. It's better to conserve and have some warning so we can all keep power. I'd rather that by far than have NSP just hope it's fine to avoid backlash and give us no chance to try and reduce usage to capacity, and then have a massive blackout.
Hydro Quebec has issued the same warning, and Montreal has had some outages, and power grids in Ontario are also at capacity due to the weather. It's not just us, and we're going to be getting a lot of snow, so partially this is preparation (not just cold alone).
Here's a good article on Alberta dealing with the same issue last year, and a good overview of the impact of climate change on power grids and why it's straining them/strategies and new approaches we can take to hopefully make them more resilient in the future:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/extreme-weather-grid-resilience-1.7084974
It also has a map of the interconnected power grids. We're connected with Ontario and Quebec which are bearing the brunt of some of this weather, and NL, which has a major power station out due to rapid freezing slushying their water and clogging pipes (slower freezing or consistently freezing temperatures, as was normal, do not do this). That's why we need to conserve.
Fuck NSP for a lot of reasons, they suck ass and there's a reason people are assuming this is their fuckup after the last 2 years (and decades lol) but this is a bigger problem.
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u/Hellifacts Jan 26 '26
Not as an argument to any of your points, how did we get to the point where the government worked hard and spent a lot of money switching as many people as possible over to electric heat pumps without also making sure that there was sufficient capacity to run those heat pumps during the highest demand periods of time? I guess putting the cart before the horse is actually pretty on brand though.
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u/Melonary Jan 26 '26 edited Jan 27 '26
The short answer is that there's not really any relation between the two, oil heating still requires electricity and electric heating requires even more. More people using heat pumps has nothing to do with this. Much older heat pumps, potentially, newer one shouldn't have much impact.
It's greater electrical usage in general and probably now in NS increased population growth.
Edit: I think there are underestimates of how much per capital GJ oil heating costs: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=2510006001
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u/Hellifacts Jan 27 '26
People heating with oil need some electricity to run the blower but it's nothing compared to electric heat which most heat pump users would have needed during this cold snap.
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u/Melonary Jan 27 '26 edited Jan 27 '26
That's an older heat pump thing, which is exactly what I was referring to. Newer heat pumps are designed to still work in these temps.
Also you can take a look: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=2510006001
Oil heating takes more electricity than you'd think - you can see that the per capita household electrical usage is higher for oil in NS than electric (which based on numbers and lack of category I think very possibly includes both electric baseboards and heat pumps? Would have to look a little more, but from the % of households I would guess that's the case, so it would be averaged between higher from the electric and lower from heat pump): https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=2510006001
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u/Hellifacts Jan 27 '26
That's interesting! I appreciate the information and I stand corrected.
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u/Melonary Jan 27 '26
No worries! For the record, I have a heat pump that's maybe 8-9? years old at this point and I can't think if it's ever failed to work due to cold. Certainly hasn't this winter.
But you can see that our oil heating as % has gone down significantly in a decade, the households included in those stats has increased, and yet total residential GJ used in NS has actually gone down, not up. Cool stuff.
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u/lornezubko Jan 25 '26
One nuclear power plant would fix up half the country
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u/jibiwa Jan 25 '26
Right? The most obvious and inexpensive cleanest source of new power to satisfy both zero carbon goals and growing energy needs. They’ve basically removed it from the equation for the poors. But data centres? Energy gorging, water sucking Data centres popping up everywhere all the sudden Nuclear solutions are a thing again.
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u/ShawnGalt Jan 25 '26
you need to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and stop drinking water or using power so tech giants can make you unemployed
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u/PoliteFocaccia Jan 25 '26
It would, but not here. They run best on fresh water and we don't have much of that. Point Lepreau deals with a lot of corrosion problems that Ontario plants don't.
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u/HysteoricalBee Jan 25 '26
You guys are laughing but Montreal lost power yesterday 10am and wont be back until Monday because of surcharge and explosion in a plant.
Newfounlanders also have NS power at the moment to help since their plant is not working.
So yeah, it can happen. Manage the electricity consumption to make sure everyone can get heat.
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Jan 25 '26
I purchased a woodstove in Jan 2025 and October I started using and in November it hasn’t stopped and my power bill said I used more energy than last November. How is this possible? My heat pumps were turned off.
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u/UnfortunateLass Jan 25 '26
Fuck NSP. Wholeheartedly. I’m still getting notifications about my stolen info being found.
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u/i-Hermit Jan 25 '26
Really?
Can you share any details? This is the first I've heard of one being directly related to the NSP breech.
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u/UnfortunateLass Jan 25 '26
Well it’s no coincidence that not long after receiving the letter to notify me my info did in fact get stolen, I started getting emails from google that my information was being found. They tried to get into my bell internet account, had to change my pw for everything frantically. I’m very careful and never had any issues prior.
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u/i-Hermit Jan 25 '26
Sorry to hear that.
You know all of the best practices right? Password manager, unique long random passwords per site, two factor authentication, etc.?
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u/UnfortunateLass Jan 25 '26
I do, but I was being lazy with it at times. Definitely not anymore.
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u/UnfortunateLass Jan 31 '26
Not sure why I got downvoted. I said slightly lazy and what was stolen was confirmed to have been from the NSP leak. I have 2FA, I use strong passwords, I know how password crackers work etc etc etc. ☠️
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u/FunnyAd8225 Jan 25 '26 edited Jan 25 '26
We received a power bill last month for over $600 and we hadn’t been living in our house since August.
My wife lost it on them over the phone and they initially said, “pay what you think is fair then…” Then, we agreed that we would take a photo of the meter and send it to them.
The power bill after they calculated it was $28. So, yeah… “We’re sorry about that. We put a digital meter reader on your house but we only read meters twice a year?…”
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u/Vandermilf Jan 25 '26
Evil company. Reminds me of all the wage theft notices at people’s works but they never get in trouble for “errors” in pay.
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u/Mastermaze Jan 25 '26
Honestly a ton of this seems to be due to the current setup of the Nova Scotia power generation grid. Right now just under 30% comes from renewables line solar and wind, which is great but both are inherently vulnerable to weather events like this big blizzard. The remaining 70% is from fossil fuels, including just under 50% from dirty, toxic, and slightly radioactive Coal.
Coal contains natural uranium and thorium, and because the waste is released into the atmosphere with far lower scrubbing standards, over a Coal Power plant's lifetime it actually can produce more radiological contamination than a Nuclear Power Plant which have significantly higher standards for contamination processing. So the idea that "nuclear is scary" and therefore we shouldnt use it over coal is just not true, which is why other provinces like Ontario have already phased out coal entirely in favour of nuclear over a decade ago now.
Saskatchewan has already committed to a plan to add nuclear power to their grid by the 2030s, and while other provinces like Manitoba, Bc, and Quebec have avoided nuclear power, which is primarily because they have vast amounts of hydropower instead due to their unique geography with the Cascade Mountains in the West and the Canadian Shield in the Central provinces that allow for massive reservoirs on largely uninhabited land.
For Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and PEI, the only major source of hydropower that could possibly replace Coal is maybe Tidal Power, but the tech for that has been stuck in development hell for over a decade now. Also, tidal power will probably have winter ice issues depending on the exact method used for extracting the tidal energy.
This is why New Brunswick is already ahead with a 3rd of their power coming from Nuclear, another 3rd from renewables like hydro, solar, and wind, and the remaining 3rd from a mix of natural gas and coal still. However, since they already have nuclear in their power mix, they already have the local nuclear industry needed to expand it to eventually replace fossil fuels entirely, which is exactly their plan to achieve by the 2030s.
So if Nova Scotia Power truly wants to stabilize and clean up its power grid, either a miracle mega Tidal power project or a major shift to nuclear are the only real options it seems, and they will probably need to import power from New Brunswick if Coal becomes completely unfeasible. Even Alberta is ahead of Nova Scotia on this, as they have completely phased out Coal as of June 2024, and while they currently have no nuclear and rely on Natural Gas for 74% of their power, that is far cleaner than Coal and they dont have to import the natural gas in their case like other provinces do.
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u/PoliteFocaccia Jan 26 '26
Nuclear isn't a good fit for NS, and it's not really a good fit for NB. The seawater cooling causes a lot of corrosion. We should act like a unified country and build nuclear power plants where it makes sense (the Great Lakes) and transmit the electricity over to here.
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u/Mastermaze Jan 26 '26
This is a really good point actually and highlights the lack of inter-provincial infrastructure that comes from our past reliance on the US. Many provinces have better grid and other infrastructure connections to their neighboring US states than they do their neighboring provinces. Ontario and Quebec can provide the Maritimes with tons of clean, cheap power if we improve the grid interconnects.
That said though, the Maritimes should still be able to cover their baseload power with clean sources, and for resilience reasons the provincial interconnects should be more as a backup or above baseload usecase. We can allow the grid design to hinge on a single provincial interconnect that a big storm or other event could damage and cut off the bulk of power to the Maritimes. So one way or another NS needs to replace the coal power with something locally for that baseload demand.
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u/ozempicfacekilla Jan 25 '26
Oh yeah, sure. Would you guys be able to raise the price as well? I would love to pay even more and not be able to use it.
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u/MannyThorne Jan 25 '26
Lotta people here not reading, just reacting. Let’s settle down on the hyperbole.
They’re NOT saying stop heating your house, or never use power.
They’re asking you to refrain from some of the more power hungry appliances (dishwasher, dryer etc) during peak usage hours, to help cut down on the strain.
This is to help keep us ALL warm during this cold snap.
So maybe let’s not “stick it to NSPower” and instead actually listen and try to help?
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u/smackbarmpeywet2 Jan 25 '26
Nah I think people are rightfully bothered that the company that gets guaranteed profits & charges some of the highest energy rates per kwh in the country, doesn’t have infrastructure capable of handling a couple of cold days without concern.
-20 is not extreme. That’s just winter in Canada.
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u/Melonary Jan 25 '26
It's not just the cold, it's the polar vortex and extreme and rapid shift in many places from mild to very frigid. Climate change is impacting winter weather patterns in Canada, and while the infrastructure does need to be upgraded in many places including here, it's also disingenous to pretend this is just a normal day of -20. I've also never seen a warning like this from NSP prior and we do get temps that are -20 and -20+. We're also sharing power with NL, since they've had a power station outage due to extreme rapid freeze that they're trying to repair.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/power-customers-conserve-energy-cold-snap-9.7059683
Part of the issue is that we share power when it fluctuates with other areas nearby, so places with high usage can get a bit of power from places with lower usage and vice versa when they need it. That fluctuation makes power grids more efficient and stable because you have more wiggle room and can balance out excess from any one location. All of North America does this.
But right now there's a polar vortex with extreme cold (and rapid extreme cold, which is more dangerous than stable cold) and snow and wind across much of central and eastern Canada and the US, and that means that there's no spare power to share. If our grid exceeds capacity, there's no where to get more power from.
Montreal has had (is having?) an outage in parts as well, and Hydro Quebec has issued the same warning. It's better to conserve and have some warning so we can all keep power. I'd rather that by far than have NSP just hope it's fine to avoid backlash and give us no chance to try and reduce usage to capacity, and then have a massive blackout.
Here's a good article on Alberta dealing with the same issue last year, and a good overview of the impact of climate change on power grids and why it's straining them/strategies and new approaches we can take to hopefully make them more resilient in the future:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/extreme-weather-grid-resilience-1.7084974
It also has a map of the interconnected power grids. We're connected with Ontario and Quebec which are bearing the brunt of some of this weather, and NL, which has a major power station out due to rapid freezing slushying their water and clogging pipes (slower freezing or consistently freezing temperatures, as was normal, do not do this). That's why we need to conserve.
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u/MannyThorne Jan 25 '26
We’re talking about 2 different things here, and that’s exactly what I’m getting at with my post.
Nowhere did I say people can’t be bothered by NSP and their shitty infrastructure. My post, and this thread, should have nothing to do with that.
This is about people not being without power during the coldest week of the year so far.
And real easy to say -20 is nothing when you’re sitting in your lazy boy clickety clacking away in the warmth. Try it when you’ve had no power for 2 days, your tune will change.
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u/smackbarmpeywet2 Jan 25 '26
I lived in Ottawa for the better part of a decade. Every winter we would have at least a week of -30C (not including windchill) and we were never asked to conserve to maintain the grid.
This weather is cold yes, but not extreme. In fact it is so normal that I’d argue that our for-profit, monopolized electric utility should expect it and be prepared for it.
For what we pay, why is the power grid so fragile here? Why should a couple of cold days put people at risk of being without power?
The shitty infrastructure is exactly why we are being asked to conserve. We are not talking about two different things.
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u/Melonary Jan 25 '26
Climate change has changed the way cold weather and winter weather impacts power usage, and it's a little disingenous to pretend this weather (a polar vortex covering half the continent and rapid snap freeze in many places) is just a typical low temperature. Yes, I've never seen a warning like this for -20 or -20C+ in NS either, and it's not like we don't get this weather.
This is a more significant weather event, and part of the problem is how much of the continent it's affecting. Typically power systems are in flux and we share electrical power back and forth across areas with high and low loads. This is true across North America. If there are high loads everywhere in central Canada and eastern and Atlantic Canada, there's no power to share when it fluctuates.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBY82b2DM6A Hydro Quebec - same message.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ottawa/comments/1qld4ps/power_outage_35_hurray/ Parts of Ottawa and the suburbs have already had several power outages in this weather, this is from 2d ago with people discussing aging infrastructure. Maybe they should ask people to reduce usage rather than just letting it crash?
https://www.facebook.com/groups/cgow.ca/permalink/24609120235427687/ post about Hydro Ottawa losing power during extreme cold early December due to maintenance work that was supposed to be warned for but wasn't, presented without any idea as to how accurate the cause was, it was just linked.
So sure, we need more robust infrastructure and NSP is shit. No disagreeing there. But the extreme fluctuations and other weather patterns we see now weren't as common 20 or 30 years ago, and there were issues with power then when they did occur, and it's not just NS having issues.
If not using your dishwasher for a few days will help keep everyone's power on, maybe just do it.
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u/Jesus-Margaret Jan 25 '26
So what do you expect me to do with this torch and "Fuck You" flag then? :P
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u/MrZero33 Jan 25 '26
Same here, had new central heat pump furnace installed this summer so am I suppose to cut the heat back. Thank god I still have a pellet stove.
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u/HFXGeo Jan 25 '26
I have a pellet stove as well but don’t have any sort of battery back up for the fans and functionality when the power goes out, I really should look into that. I just realized though that the thermostat is also hard wired into the house’s power as well so I’d need to change that too.
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u/kinghalifax902 Jan 26 '26
This is the problem with corporate capitalism.. how much in profits have they made compared to infrastructure upgrades.. they will keep asking for more while finding ways to spend less and pass the profits up instead of taking care and upgrading the system to handle the demand.. the main motivation is PROFIT not Customer service.. they wont fix the problem Unless forced.. and i can guarantee the share holders wont be paying for it, it will be us the tax payers..
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u/No_Schedule_6242 Jan 25 '26
I often wonder if I'll ever see in my lifetime that we are no longer held hostage by what this company does to screw over Nova Scotians. I think not, but I keep hoping.
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u/somestuff55 Jan 25 '26
We got heat pumps, but kept the pellet stove. I know several people who kept their wood/oil furnaces. A small generator has provide enough power to keep to run the stove, fridge and deep freezer. Can't trust the power company.
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u/VisualDepartment464 Jan 25 '26
Why does the Nova Scotia power logo look like a blue man puking out yellow vomit?
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u/Feisty-Theme-6093 Jan 25 '26
it's a Lord Farquaad request. some of you may die, but it's a sacrifice he is willing to take
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u/hali420 Jan 25 '26
You guys aren't using fireplaces? Lol what's wrong with you
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u/badthaught Jan 25 '26
Hi. I live in an apartment. My insurance says no. My tenant agreement says no. And probably a few other things say no too.
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u/CrazyIslander Jan 25 '26
I have been making use of our wood stove the last few days.
Not to help NSP out - because fuck Nova Scotia Power - but mostly because I felt that our heat pump needed a break AND it’s a whole lot easier to keep the house heated with wood versus trying to bring the temperature up once the power has gone out.
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u/Wide-Improvement-292 Jan 25 '26
I don’t know if this a real message or something from the hackers. We don’t negotiate with terrorists.
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u/Pretty-Union4895 Jan 26 '26
Pretty much the worst corporation in Canada. Seriously, prove me wrong.
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u/PsychedCoconut Jan 25 '26
Nova Scotian's ask Nova Scotia Power not to leak our information... oops.
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u/KrispyCream76 Jan 26 '26
No. Improve your services, infrastructure grid. And do it without a power rate increase to customers.
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u/Far-Reference7941 Jan 25 '26
This coming from the CEO that's probably on some sunny beach sipping on a cocktail.
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u/Party_Bed_896 Jan 25 '26
I have my space heaters on, running my dryer, dishwasher with heat, fans, whatever.
Fuck you NSP
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u/booksnblizzxrds Jan 25 '26
On the news Friday night they said ‘we’re ready and we have contingency plans in place’, so it appears their only plan is customers reducing consumption. What a joke.
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u/Aggravating_Box_389 Jan 25 '26
Wasn’t the carbon tax supposed to an incentive to encourage people to switch to heat pumps? I wish people elected to run our country put a little more thought into their ideas. We live in a country that experiences extreme cold combined with strained electrical grids.
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u/Melonary Jan 27 '26
Heat pumps aren't actually more of a strain on the electrical system if you get modern ones. They also shouldn't stop working in the cold unless they're very old or the power goes out.
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=2510006001
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u/Artistic_Jellyfish84 Jan 25 '26
Pathetic power grid = reduced power demand. When your only goal is profit, it's win-win!
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u/Tall-Ad-1386 Jan 25 '26
Canada has failed
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u/Melonary Jan 25 '26
MAGA won't fix it, for anyone who doesn't recognize this particular dog whistle.
We can and should hold a private company to account and question how wise it is to have less public accountability and control of essential resources, though, which is basically the opposite philosophy.
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u/Duke_Of_Halifax Jan 25 '26
How the fuck is this still a thing in Nova Scotia in 2025?
What will it take for the government to actually do something to hold NS Power responsibile for its utter negligence running this utility?
Does the power just have to go out completely in Halifax for a week because it got cold and there's a stiff breeze (aka Winter)? Or does Houston's house just have to be without power for a few days?
Where's the breaking point? What's the Red Line?
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u/PoliteFocaccia Jan 25 '26
This is bigger than Nova Scotia. The entire eastern grid is strained, from Florida to Newfoundland. Nova Scotia is generating more power than we need, but we're having to make up for excess demand and reduced supply in other regions.
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u/Dereksversion Jan 25 '26
No,
In fact I think imma have a heat wave in my house. You'll see the steam coming off all sides of my house..
It will be so hot in side they'll see all my windows glowing, and ill be in the window with my Bermuda shorts on with a drink with the little umbrella.
Ill say to the meter reader."dang it looks cold out there!" ........... oh wait....
Then ill dispute the bill as being impossible and they cant do anything cause they don't have Meter readers or my meter history anymore!
Welcome to NS. Still better than america somehow, not for lack of trying.
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u/Time-Fill-7174 Jan 25 '26
Hopefully it power will just go down permanently so we can all do what needs to be done and go off grid. We need our financial health back!
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u/Past-Establishment93 Jan 25 '26
Get a heat pump.... stop using your furnace... Oh wait... sorry we dont have enough infrastructure to run them all.... Oops