Executives at Nova Scotia Power and its parent company Emera Inc. have released salaries and bonuses paid in 2012 that show many were pulling in bigger paycheques.

New legislation proposed last fall by the provincial government caps the salary charge to ratepayers to an amount equal to the salary of senior public servants.

Four executives at Emera had salaries last year that broke the $1-million mark.

The figures listed in the compensation package include non-cash items like pension compensation and share options.

Emera CEO Chris Huskilson made $3.1 million in total compensation, a 3.5 per cent increase over 2011.

Rob Bennett’s final year as president of NSP was lucrative. He made $1.4 million in compensation, a raise of nearly $300,000 or 25 per cent over the previous year.

Bennett was appointed the executive vice-president and chief operating officer at Emera in January.

In documents prepared for shareholders, NSP said Bennett's increase is a "reflection of strong results in financial, customer, people, community, renewable and capital programs."

No one from Emera was available to comment publicly on the numbers Tuesday but a spokesperson said only Bennett's base salary of $425,000 was paid for by NSP customers. The rest of his compensation package comes from Emera shareholders.

The portion of executive salaries that NSP will be allowed to pass on to customers will drop significantly this year.

New legislation proposed last fall by the provincial government caps the salary charge to ratepayers to an amount equal to the salary of senior public servants — but the province has not provided details on what that amount would be.