BC already replaced 1:1 net metering with a lower flat export rate earlier this summer. Now New Brunswick is doing something similar, and this time there's a filed proposal with real numbers and an actual date.
NB Power filed a plan with the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board (NBEUB) on April 30, 2026, to overhaul how net metering works in the province. It hasn't been approved yet, but a decision is expected sometime this fall and the specifics are already public.
Net Metering Is Being Replaced
This isn't just a rate tweak. NB Power wants to move solar customers off net metering entirely and onto net billing instead. Right now, everything nets out at the standard retail rate of 15.39 cents per kWh, whether you're using power or sending it back to the grid. Under net billing, that is set to end. Customers would instead pay 9.22 cents per kWh for what they use and get credited only 6.77 cents per kWh for what they export.
The New Demand Charge
On top of that, NB Power is proposing a new demand charge: $13 per kilowatt, based on a customer's single highest usage between 7am and 10pm on weekdays. For an 8kW peak, that would come out to just under $110 a month on the demand charge alone. Add the lower export rate into the mix, and that same customer's bill would end up about $90 higher than it is today.
CBC spoke with a real net metering customer whose peak runs closer to 18kW, and by his own calculations, his bill would end up around $240 higher.
What This Means for Installers
Under the proposal, anyone already enrolled, or approved for net metering by October 31, 2026, would keep the current setup for ten years. Anyone approved after that would move into the new structure instead.
That deadline is a real lever for installers. A homeowner who gets approved before October 31 locks in the current net metering rate through 2037. Wait past it, and the same system moves straight into the new export rate and demand charge instead.
This is a real deadline, not manufactured urgency, and installers can use it to move someone who's been sitting on the fence toward a decision instead of letting them sit on it through another season.
BC went through the same shift earlier this year. New Brunswick is next, and it probably won't be the last province to make this move.