Nova Scotia Power wants to add a new charge to your power bill starting Jan. 1. If the province’s energy regulator says yes, most homes would pay about 6.8 per cent more in January than they do now.

That 6.8 per cent comes from two things. The first is a 3.9 per cent price increase for 2027 that the regulator already approved earlier this year. The second is a new charge NS Power asked for on Friday. It would show up as its own line on your bill, called a “rider,” and NS Power says it will be 2.9 per cent for homes.

Here’s what that looks like in dollars. NS Power uses a typical home that pays $187.58 a month (rates already went up $5.89 a month for that home in May). We did the math: 6.8 per cent more is about $12.75 a month, or about $150 a year. In winter, when people use more power, the jump would be bigger.

So what is the new charge for? NS Power owes money on old coal power plants that are being shut down, plus some fuel bills and other costs. Customers were always going to pay for those. The question is how.

NS Power wants to borrow up to $1 billion at a lower interest rate and pay it back slowly over 30 years. The company compares it to “moving your credit card balance to a lower interest rate loan.” You still owe the money, but you pay less interest. That’s what the fancy word “securitization” means here.

NS Power says this will save customers about $265 million over those 30 years. That’s the company’s own estimate, and the regulator, called the Nova Scotia Energy Board, still has to check it.

The province made new rules Friday morning that allowed NS Power to apply. In a written statement, Premier Tim Houston, who is also energy minister, said the Energy Board will decide whether the plan is really good for customers. “Our only objective is to protect ratepayers,” Houston said in the statement.

This didn’t come out of nowhere. Back in March, the Energy Board already agreed that about $704 million owed on the coal plants could be paid back this way later, once the rules existed. In that same decision, the board gave NS Power a bit less than it asked for: the company had wanted 3.8 per cent this year and 4.1 per cent next year.

In January, the province had asked the board to say no to any price increase for homes and to take a hard look at how much NS Power says the coal plants are worth.

All this is happening the same week NS Power’s parent company, Halifax-based Emera, announced a deal to buy an Alberta utility.

If your power bill is hard to pay, NS Power has help programs based on income, including the HEAT Fund. The province’s Heating Assistance Rebate Program also opened Oct. 1.

If the Energy Board approves the plan, the new charge would first appear on bills Jan. 1, 2027.