Quebec buys NB Power

Huh. Quebec has bought all of the electricity generating stations in my province. They bought all of NB power. I'm confused, they bought them for 4.8 billions dollars, which was NB power's debt. Was the debt greater than the value of NB power? Otherwise this seems like a low price, even considering that residential users get a five year price freeze.

Now NB energy decisions will be made in Quebec. Is there any precedent for this sort of thing in Canada? The article says they're also looking into buying PEI's power plants.

I have no idea how this works in practice, and to what extent NB can still make laws to regulate electricity production in the province. I also don't know if NB power still has a monopoly, or if others can enter the business.