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Each utility remains independent, answerable to its own community. What we’re building is something different – a network where local utilities can share expertise, solve problems together and take on initiatives that none of us could manage alone.

One year in

We meet quarterly, and those meetings have become something more than progress updates – we’ve built a genuine peer group where utilities at very different levels of maturity can ask hard questions and get straight answers. 

Before the Alliance, if a smaller utility had a question about a procurement challenge or a new technology, they might eventually find the right person to call. Now those connections are built in, and they’re used constantly.

What’s been most rewarding to watch is the culture that’s developed – one where no one has to pretend they have answers they don’t have, and where we share information for each other’s benefit. That knowledge transfer has real value, even if customers don’t see it directly yet.

A significant vote of confidence

This week, we announced that the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency is investing $420,750 in the Alliance’s first major collective initiative – part of a total $505,000 project that our member utilities are also contributing to directly. 

ACOA’s mandate is to strengthen Atlantic Canada’s economy by helping organizations become more competitive, more innovative and better connected regionally. That this funding found its way to a network of community-owned utilities says something about how ACOA sees the potential of what we’re building – and about the role these utilities play in the economic fabric of our communities.

Federal investment in clean energy and regional collaboration has never been more important. For the MMEUA, this support means we can move from building relationships to building real capacity – the kind that shows up in better service, smarter investment and stronger utilities for years to come.

What it means for you

• Better reliability. Member utilities will develop long-term infrastructure investment roadmaps and formal asset management programs – tools that shift utilities from reacting to problems to planning ahead of them. Fewer unexpected outages. Smarter, more cost-effective maintenance. Infrastructure that’s built to last.

• More options for the energy transition. We’ll develop an electrification business plan so that member utilities can offer customers real programs for making the switch to cleaner energy – heat pump and hot water heater programs, EV charging and more. These are the kinds of offerings that help households cut heating costs and reduce their reliance on fuel oil, and they’ll be available closer to home.

• Stronger utilities. Benchmarking each member against a national framework will give us a clear picture of where to invest and improve. Stronger, more efficient utilities are better positioned to keep rates competitive over the long term.

Looking ahead

Community-owned utilities have always been about more than keeping the lights on. They’re about local people making decisions that reflect local values – including reliability, affordability, and accountability.

The energy transition is the biggest shift this sector has seen in a generation, and it brings with it real opportunities: cleaner energy, smarter infrastructure, new ways to help customers save money and reduce their footprint.

The MMEUA exists to make sure that the utilities serving Maritimers – the ones that have been here for generations and are deeply woven into the communities they serve – are at the front of that transition, not scrambling to catch up.

With the support of ACOA and the commitment of our nine member utilities, that’s exactly where we’re headed.

Glen Fillmore is Chair of the Maritime Municipal Electric Utility Alliance and Vice-President of Strategic Growth and Transformation at Saint John Energy.

Photo caption: Nine member utilities of the Maritime Municipal Electric Utility Alliance met recently in Berwick, N.S. to discuss a project worth more than $500,000, funded largely by ACOA, to strengthen grid modernization and clean energy planning. Shown here from left are Randy Delorey, Chief Administrative Officer of the Town of Antigonish, Glen Fillmore, Vice-President of Strategic Growth and Transformation at Saint John Energy, and Greg Gaudet, Director of Municipal Services for the City of Summerside.