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<\/a><\/div>\nPodcast: Play in new window<\/a> | Download<\/a><\/p> Subscribe: RSS<\/a> | More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Originally aired June 5, 2025. <\/p>\n
On May 28, 2025, members of ACORN NB and several local unions gathered at the Hugh John Flemming Forestry Centre in Fredericton to deliver a report to Rene Legacy, Minister of Energy, and John Herron, Minister of Natural Resources. The report, titled \u201cCrumbling Apartments in a Warming World: Tenants in an energy cost crisis,\u201d notes that renters are at a much higher risk of energy poverty than other demographics in Canada, meaning that many low and moderate income Canadians cannot afford their energy bills. ACORN NB Chair Nichola Taylor explained that energy poverty often means that low-income people are left without adequate air conditioning in the summer or heating in the winter, which can have potentially deadly consequences. Frederictonians are particularly susceptible to energy poverty, as NB Power raised rates by 9.7% in April and still allows winter cutoffs if a customer is unable to pay their bill, a practice Nichola described as \u201coutrageous.\u201d NB Power responded to Nichola\u2019s criticism by asserting that cutting a costumer\u2019s power in the middle of winter is a last resort, and customers are encouraged to communicate with the company to find a solution to financial barriers.<\/p>\n