To bolster their claim, the group argued that because of their financial woes, they had difficulties making ends meet, and with higher power rates it would deprive them of buying basic needs such as healthy food. They even brought in the hearings experts who testified on the repercussion of poverty on the health of poor Nova Scotia residents.
They said the power rate hike, in effect, discriminates against members of certain marginalized groups based on their gender, race, ethnic origin, age or disability.
However, the attorney general of Nova Scotia countered no Canadian jurisdiction had ever granted a rate affordability program for poor power customers.
The Nova Scotia utility firm increased by 9.3 percent electricity rates in the province in the early part of 2009, while the case was pending before the federal Supreme Court.