July 21, 2026 · Mark Robertson
IR Explorer: following the thread on Nova Scotia's next efficiency plan
Last week we mapped who's asking whom in Nova Scotia's next demand-side management plan — 379 responses to information requests across three rounds. The responses to the final round are now in.
Reading them is its own project: some IRs run long, with many subparts, and a good share of the responses just point somewhere else in the record. We built a way to read it the way the record actually works — every request paired with its response, every multi-part IR collapsible to just the part you care about, and every "please refer to…" one click away.
Pending. One more stat — how deep the cross-reference chains run — computes live once JavaScript loads the transcription data.
The process
Where the case gets tested
Information requests are a healthy part of how these proceedings work. Before the oral hearing on this matter, there were three separate rounds of IRs:
- IRs to EfficiencyOne, on its DSM Plan Application
- IRs to the NSEB's Verification consultant, on the 2025 Verification Report
- IRs to Intervenors
These IRs are often where the real substance shows up. An application makes its case; the IRs are where it gets tested, and where important details surface. Some of this information may end up being referenced in future matters — by those who can find it.
The problem
The paper chase
A good share of the responses in this record don't contain an answer — they point to one. There's a sensible reason: several parties often ask the same question, so rather than answer it multiple times, the respondent answers once and refers everyone else to that response. One canonical answer — reasonable for the respondent. But depending what you're looking for, here's what following one of those references might take:
Initial attempt
- navigate to the NSEB site
- find the matter, find the filing
- download the PDF
- open it, scroll to the IR — it points somewhere else
Hop 1
- back to the NSEB site
- find it, download
- scroll — here's some info, but it also points somewhere else
Hop 2
- back to the NSEB site
- same ordeal a third time
- scroll — more info, but also another reference
Hop 3
- same thing again
- the end of the chain
Multiple downloads, multiple PDFs open, red string connecting the dots to find the answer you're looking for.
Responses range from 9 words to 2,333 — and 25 of them are one-liners pointing somewhere else.
The pattern
The record talks to itself
A handful of Responses to Information Requests (RIRs) get pointed to by several other RIRs instead of being restated.
And the pointing isn't spread evenly. Follow every reference chain to its end, and a single RIR is referenced by nearly a third of them. Counting every RIR that leads to another — directly, or through a chain of references — these are the record's most load-bearing answers:
If you only have time for a handful, read these first.
Pending. The in-place/deferred split and the leaderboard compute live from the transcription data — they need JavaScript to display.
The build
What we built
Everything below is the record itself: every request paired with its verbatim response, every cross-reference clickable and opening right where you're reading.
We built this by reading the filings with AI and checking our work — but the source PDF is still one click away on every card, because before you act on anything here, you'll want to confirm it against the filing itself. The explorer is for everything before that: sizing up a matter, or figuring out how to respond.
The explorer