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Interveners in Halifax Water’s rate case are telling the regulatory board that the utility’s new proposal, which would cut its initial request by nearly half, is still inordinately high.

The board-appointed consumer advocate said Halifax Water “may be closer” to finding a balance between recouping necessary costs and keeping rates reasonable and affordable, but he still has concerns.

Halifax Water applied to the Nova Scotia Regulatory and Appeals Board in the spring for two rate hikes amounting to more than 35 per cent between January and April 2026. The regulator said that would constitute “rate shock” and ordered the utility earlier this month to bring the figure down. 

Halifax Water returned with a new proposal for two smaller increases that would compound to about 18 per cent over the same time period.

“Arguably, this still amounts to ‘rate shock,’” consumer advocate David Roberts wrote in a letter to the board this week.

Roberts stopped short of suggesting whether the board should accept or reject the utility’s new proposal but said it’s clear “new rate strategies must be employed” if steep rate hikes are to be avoided in the future.

He pointed to several measures the board has ordered, including seeking relief from some payments Halifax Water is required to make to Halifax Regional Municipality, and exploring whether HRM can absorb some of the utility’s financial shortfalls that are driving up its deficit.

Halifax Water has said it’s been keeping rates artificially low since the pandemic and cannot continue doing so because it’s facing inflationary pressures and needs to make costly infrastructure upgrades.

Roberts acknowledged that infrastructure improvements and other expenses are necessary to keep water services at a level that “customers expect and deserve.”

“However, the rates customers are required to pay to generate that revenue must be reasonable and affordable,” he added.

The consumer advocate is not alone in lodging its concern about Halifax Water’s revised rate proposal.

The landlord-advocacy group Rental Housing Providers Nova Scotia is calling on the board to cut the cumulative increase in 2026 to 10 per cent, and order Halifax Water to negotiate a settlement agreement on rates with stakeholders for 2027 to 2031.

Kevin Russell, the group’s executive director, told the board in a letter that the revised rate is “far too high and represents an increase more than six times the current rate of inflation.”

Killam Apartment REIT, one of the province’s largest landlords, said the revised rates would still strain household affordability.

The board is expected to release a decision about the revised rates in the first few days of the new year.

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The win marks the 24th time the lottery’s top prize has gone to Finland.

A woman from Helsinki won more than 74 million euros in Friday night’s Eurojackpot draw, Finnish gambling monopoly Veikkaus said.

The Eurojackpot is an international lottery across Europe starting at 10 million euros.

Veikkaus confirmed that they had been in contact with the winner, who has chosen to keep her identity private and limit knowledge of the win to a small circle of people.

Publicity around major lottery wins can attract unwanted attention. Yle has previously reported on jackpot winners who received large numbers of requests for financial help after their winnings became public.

According to Veikkaus, the woman checked her ticket early on Saturday morning after hearing that the main prize had gone to Finland.

“I don’t think I fully understand yet how much money I’ve won,” she said in a statement released by Veikkaus.

“Maybe it will become clearer once the money is actually in my bank account.”

She said the moment she realised she had won was overwhelming.

“I could barely stay in my chair,” she said, adding that she struggled to sleep afterwards.

The winner told Veikkaus that she plans to renovate her home and expects her working life to change.

“I probably won’t be working on public holidays anymore,” she said.

Despite the life-changing sum, she said her immediate plans were modest.

“Now I’m going outside to clear snow,” she added.

The win marks the 24th time that the Eurojackpot’s top prize has gone to Finland.

Gambling remains widespread in the country. A study by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) found that 70 percent of Finns gambled in 2023, most commonly on Veikkaus games.

Estimates suggest Finns spent more than one billion euros on gambling in 2024.