One of the enduring myths among those who bow down to the gods of the marketplace is that someone who screws up in the private sector—unlike the cosseted public sphere—will suffer inevitable, inevitably dire consequences for failure.
While there may be truth to that at the lower rungs of the corporate ladder, those at the top seem well insulated from the rigors of marketplace discipline.
Case in point: Rob Bennett, until last week the president and chief operating officer of Nova Scotia Power, 2011 salary circa $1.15 million, up 23 per cent from the year before…
Last month, the Nova Scotia Utilities Review Board issued its decision on NSP’s latest rate increase request. While granting three per cent increases in 2013 and 2014, the board tore a strip off Nova Scotia Power management, which is to say Bennett.
It disallowed $4.5 million in fuel costs the company had claimed in 2010 and 2011, arguing NSP could have purchased fuel more cheaply.
And it expressed its “dismay and concern” over the company’s “unreasonable… inappropriate… inexplicable… inexcusable” conduct during the hearings. After spending $2 million to hire 10 experts and filing over 1,000 pages of evidence to attack an independent auditor’s conclusions, the company—on the very last day of the hearings—revealed important information about its fuel market dealings, which, the board noted, added “significant time, cost and rancor, unnecessarily” to the proceedings.
The URB fined NSP $2 million for bad behavior.
Let’s see… Two-million to unsuccessfully contest the audit, $2 million for conduct unbecoming and $4.5 million more to cover disallowed fuel costs. That’s $8.5 million.
And don’t forget that during Bennett’s four-year watch, a $93-million heat recovery project went 40 per cent over budget and the company had to swallow more costs because of delays in moving into its new corporate headquarters.
Did Bennett walk the plank for his transgressions? Fall on his sword in shame?
Not exactly. Last week, Emera, NSP’s parent company, announced Bennett would become its executive vice president and chief operating officer, a job that didn’t exist before it was created coincidentally just in time for Bennett’s soft landing.
Ah, yes, the private sector. Where the consequences of failure are… success.
STEPHEN KIMBER, a Professor of Journalism at the University of King's College in Halifax and co-founder of its MFA in Creative Nonfiction Program, is an award-winning writer, editor and broadcaster. He is the author of two novels and eight non-fiction books. Buy his books 
dictatorship is part of the problem with a couple of inspectors that cost the power corp money because they make too many trips to complain of a cover plate off and worrying about the next house which is being wired up by some moon lighters who have no permit .nsp realistically could make more by being very helpful with projects and not sending a hitler dictator to discourage people from permits.ihope within a few months my associates and myself can startmaking a difference to helpthose who are below poverty level $15000 and give them the tools to produce their own power.