A second consultant’s report is warning of consequences for other Nova Scotia Power customers if a deal to keep the NewPage mill afloat is approved.

The Boston-based consulting firm, La Capra Associates, warns that the deal between Nova Scotia Power and the NewPage Port Hawkesbury paper mill’s potential owners could hurt the utility’s credit rating.

The Herald reports the authors say that could mean to higher costs for ratepayers because of the increased cost of borrowing for NSP.

Earlier this week, Missouri-based Drazen Consulting Group warned the deal could cost those same ratepayers an additional $15 million to $20 million annually.

Premier Darrell Dexter is keeping an arm’s length from the issue.

“I haven’t seen the report. I don’t know what’s in it. It’s up to the Utility and Review Board to look at all of the evidence that comes before it,” Dexter told News 95.7 following his cabinet meeting Thursday. “Obviously one of the things we want to see is the best possible rate for industrial users and we want to see one that will allow the mill in Port Hawkesbury to have a future. It’s not up to me to decide the balance.”

The deal will allow the mill to purchase power at a cheaper rate, making it a more viable business for Pacific West Commercial Corp.

The deal requires approval from the UARB and the Canada Revenue Agency, and is being reviewed at a time when customer frustration is peaking over reports of more rate hikes and hefty executive compensation packages.

The fury has given rise to the argument that Nova Scotia Power should be publicly owned, with several business experts weighing in.

The latest is the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, which suggests in a new report that only part of the company should go public.

Author Christopher Majka says the utility’s generation and distribution components are already operated as separate entitities.

“The distribution and transmission grid, that’s really worth quite a lot,” Majka told the Rick Howe Show. “Whoever controls the grid controls, not only who gets on it, but what kinds of connections and what sorts of policy are in place in terms of transmission. That’s what I’m proposing returns to public hands.”

This would mean Emera, NSP’s parent company, would retain ownership over the power generating plants.

Majka said for the provincial government to assume ownership of the distribution and transmission grid would mean taking on approximately $1.5 billion in debt.

Critics have argued that the province could not afford to assume NSP’s $4 billion in assets, and Majka says that’s a problem that would be solved by dividing the utility.

He said the province would have no difficulty raising $1.5 billion on the bond market because it’s service debt.

“There are customers who are paying every month. Consequently, it’s a very attractive deal from the stand point of people purchasing bonds,” he said.