FREDERICTON — New Brunswick's electric utility company paid $1.15 million in early retirement incentives for eight employees who had already announced they were leaving the Crown corporation, said the province's auditor general, Paul Martin, in a report released Tuesday.
This was among the key findings in the report on NB Power’s early retirement program.
The report noted the importance of sound decision-making at the provincial utility, warning that costly programs could lead to an increase in electricity rates for New Brunswick residents and businesses. It also warned that the reliability of the system was at stake.
The audit said it was unable to obtain any paperwork from NB Power to show how the corporation verified whether it was losing any essential workers during the implementation of its plan.
It also found that the Crown corporation didn’t save as much as it anticipated, when it first announced the program in October 2022.
In addition, Martin's report said auditors found no evidence that officials who prepared the program had adequately analyzed the situation to keep costs low. As a result, the audit said there was no evidence showing the retirement program had produced value for the money it spent.
After announcing the program, the Crown corporation saw its workforce grow by 157 people between 2022 and 2025, the report said.
"It continues to grow. I don't know how they think they saved money," Martin said after releasing the report. "I can't come up with a number that makes sense."
Overall, the audit found that NB Power had overstated how much money the program would save by millions of dollars since it did not account for those who were already expected to retire.
Apart from the eight employees who benefited from the program despite announcing their retirement before it was announced, the audit also found three examples of employees who were paid to do work after accepting early retirement packages.
"We noted that 244 employees retired during this time period with potentially only an additional 44 retirements due to the early retirement program," said the audit.
The report also noted how the corporation's management gave a "limited analysis" of the situation to the board before it unanimously approved the plan.
And at least two out of nine board members did not access an electronic portal to review a briefing note about the plan before they voted, the audit said.
In response, the Crown corporation said it agreed with the audit's recommendations to improve its practices and plans to implement changes over the next few months.
Glen Savoie, leader of the Opposition Progressive Conservatives, said it was "shocking" that NB Power spent millions of dollars on a retirement package meant to lower number of employees, yet managed to increase the staff.
"That just shows the issues that are happening within NB Power itself," he said.
Green Party Leader David Coon called it a systemic issue.
"It's a boondoggle," he said.
“A large number of the people who benefited from the package were going to retire anyway. This was supposed to be an encouragement for early retirement to save some money, and the vast majority of people who received it were retiring In any event."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10, 2025.
The Canadian Press
