Sudden death of New Brunswick's top energy regulator called 'tremendous loss'
François Beaulieu, the chairperson of New Brunswick's Energy and Utilities Board, died suddenly on the weekend and is being remembered as an important leader who will be missed.
"It's a tremendous loss, not just to his family but to the province of New Brunswick," said Raymond Gorman, a former chair of the same regulatory body.
Beaulieu, who was in his late 50s, was an avid cyclist and succumbed while riding, according to his wife Manon Pelletier.
"My 33-year love and better half is gone," wrote Pelletier in a Sunday Facebook post.
"He was doing what he loved, cycling. His heart stopped but mine has not."
Beaulieu, a lawyer, has been an integral member of the Energy and Utilities Board since his appointment as vice-chair in 2014. He was elevated to be the board's acting chair and chief executive officer following Gorman's retirement in 2020 and was formally appointed as the permanent head of the organization just last year.
The EUB is an independent regulatory body with jurisdiction over "natural monopolies" in New Brunswick, including the province's electric and natural gas utilities. It also oversees inter-city bus service, pipeline safety issues and the operation of New Brunswick petroleum pricing laws.
Was to oversee June hearing about rates redesign
Beaulieu was involved in some of the board's most significant hearings and rulings over the last decade.
He most recently presided over a February hearing into N.B. Power's application for an 8.9 per cent rate increase for 2023 that was ultimately denied and reduced to 5.7 per cent.
In recent weeks, he had been preparing to oversee an upcoming June hearing that will begin an ambitious multi-year effort by the utilities board to investigate how electricity rates in New Brunswick might be redesigned to be fairer and more efficient.
Beaulieu chaired hearings in a collegial style and often expressed concern about how matters in front of the board would affect average people.
During N.B. Power's recent rate application, he read from letters sent to the board from people concerned about a large increase and pressed N.B. Power president Lori Clark on whether regular customers could afford it.
"Is an 8.9 per cent rate increase a rate shock to the ratepayers of New Brunswick?" he asked Clark directly in a typical exchange.
Helped write 'fair and appropriate' decisions
Under Beaulieu, the board asserted its independence regularly and not just by adjusting rate increases.
In 2021, he was at the centre of a major controversy when Energy Minister Mike Holland wrote to the EUB to support an Irving Oil Ltd. application for an "expedited" review of an application to raise petroleum price margins and "if warranted, an interim order to increase" the margin.
Despite the letter, a three-person board panel chaired by Beaulieu rejected the expedited review, and Irving Oil eventually withdrew its application.
Gorman called Beaulieu a respected regulator who helped write "fair and appropriate" decisions in matters he participated in.
"He was a hard worker and was well respected across the country," said Gorman.
"He was very bright — a good mind with a good ability to analyze. He and I became good friends."
The EUB itself issued a statement Monday, calling Beaulieu's death an "incredible loss."
"He has had a far-reaching impact," the board wrote, saying news of his death has come "with great sadness."
Beaulieu grew up in Edmundston and received a law degree from the Université de Moncton in 1997. He later earned a master of laws degree from York University in Toronto. Immediately prior to joining the EUB, Beaulieu spent seven years as in-house counsel for the City of Saint John.
Gorman called Beaulieu "the fittest person I knew" and recalled a summertime cycling trip for charity where Beaulieu peddled from Edmundston to Moncton.
"I would be tired driving it," said Gorman.
"He was an avid skier, a real athlete. It's a shock."
