The Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission has made an initial decision on Maritime Electric's recovery plans for the more than $3.4 million in costs incurred from post-tropical storm Dorian.

The utility said Dorian caused the largest storm impact Maritime Electric has ever dealt with on P.E.I., and officials with the utility said they didn't budget for a storm of that magnitude.

Islanders were left without power for more than a week and contractors were called in from other parts of Canada to help, officials said.

"It was an extraordinary event for Maritime Electric," said Kim Griffin, spokesperson with the utility.

Plan to recover costs

The utility submitted storm costs to IRAC in November, along with considerations for how they hope to recover those costs.

Maritime Electric was looking for approval for a mechanism to defer and recover the costs incurred, over a three-year period, which could have an impact on electricity rates.

Maritime Electric has until the end of January to get all its financial information submitted to IRAC for review, said Griffin.

"They have said, 'Listen, we accept the costs that you've incurred for the storm costs. And now we want to look at your year-end results,'" she said.

"And then from there, in the end of January, then propose how to recover those. So that's still not determined yet, but we should know more in the coming months what that's going to look like and the impact to customers."

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