OTTAWA, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Canada’s energy regulator on Friday scrapped a partially completed hearing into TransCanada Corp’s proposed Energy East pipeline and said the process would start again from the beginning.

The National Energy Board said in a statement that the new panel examining the project would decide how to proceed. The previous panel stepped down last year after it was revealed that members had met privately with a TransCanada consultant. (Reporting by David Ljunggren)