Rep. Tony Klein. VTD/Josh Larkin
A public records request by VTDigger.org shows a handful of lawmakers as well as environmental groups have weighed in on the issue in meetings with the department.
VELCO is currently in the midst of proceedings before the Vermont Public Service Board that will determine its makeup. VELCO is owned by electric utilities in proportion to their share of the state’s electric load. The state’s two largest utilities, Central Vermont Public Service Corporation and Green Mountain Power, filed a petition with the board to merge in September. The combined company, owned by Montreal-based Gaz Metro, would control 78 percent of VELCO. The utilities proposed transferring a one-third ownership share to a public trust and rearranging the board of directors so the new utility would not have a majority voting share.
Allowing one corporation, Gaz Metro, control of the state’s transmission lines has raised eyebrows among smaller publicly-owned utilities, environmental groups and lawmakers alike.
Rep. Ernie Shand, D-Weathersfield, said he was not sure he wanted to see that much power in the hands of one company. Shand sits on the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee.
“There’s probably nothing that affects commerce more than electricity,” Shand said.
In July, Shand sent an email to Elizabeth Miller, the commissioner of the Department of Public Service, recommending the sale of VELCO to ISO-New England — the nonprofit regional transmission organization that provides centrally dispatched direction for the generation and flow of electricity across the region’s interstate high-voltage transmission lines. Shand said he will discuss the possibility with the department next week.
Other lawmakers, including Rep. Tony Klein, D-East Montpelier, and Sen. Vince Illuzzi, R-Essex-Orleans, also had meetings with the department. Illuzzi has questioned Miller’s ability to supervise the impartial examination of the deal because her husband, Eric Miller, is a managing partner with the law firm Sheehey, Furlong and Behm, which is representing Gaz Metro in the merger case before the Public Service Board. The state senator filed a motion to intervene and last month obtained party status for about 45 ratepayers; he has also called on the department to hire an independent counsel to represent the public’s interest before the board.
Klein has met with lawmakers and the department to talk about the potential ramifications from the proposed merger and the impact on VELCO. Starting in October, Klein said he helped script concerns for the department and working to alleviate them.
While a number of officials who represent public electric utilities have misgivings about a concentration of power in one utility, Klein said, “no one can really express what the bogeyman is.”
According to emails obtained through the public records request, representatives from the department also met with Gov. Peter Shumlin, legislative counsel Maria Royle, representatives from the Vermont Public Interest Research Group and the Conservation Law Foundation regarding the potential ramifications of the merger on VELCO.
The department said it would not release information from one of Klein’s meetings with Geoffrey Common, a lawyer with the agency, because they were part of a “work product.” There was a meeting between Gov. Peter Shumlin and lawmakers, but no notes were taken.
Corrections: An error was inserted in this story during the editing process. There were no notes taken in the meeting between Shumlin and lawmakers, according to Sarah Hofmann.
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Thank you Alan for speaking out on this issue. I am one of the signers of the petitions. I remember when banks were locally owned and controlled. At the time the ICC allowed them to begin to merge I said to myself this is not going to be good and that certainly proved true. Now we ae seeing the same thing with our utilities and ultimately that is not going to be good. When institutions get too big they get out of control, less transparent and less democratic as has shown to be true with banks, corporations,universities, and even some non-profits. Let’s keep our control of electricity as much as possible within our Vermont boundaries!
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In my opinion the “bogeyman”, as Rep. Klein put it, or the future developments to be concerned about with both the CVPS/GMP merger and the control of VELCO is the STRUCTURE of the situation. There will be a concentration of economic power in a large, for profit, out of state corporation that controls most of our electricity supply and could also control the transmission lines. Such a concentration of economic power will lead to political power. I think that it will be difficult for Vermont regulators to effectively regulate such powerful entities later. Therefore preventing concentrated private control of VELCO is essential.
I personally would also prevent the CVPS/GMP merger. Despite that claimed short term benefits from this proposal, it is important to note that this merger is likely permanent — there is unlikely to be a breakup any time soon. So the concentration of control of electricity will last into unknown future conditions with unknown problems. Under such unknown conditions will Vermont regulators be able to make decisions that protect Vermont ratepayers? The Vermont economy? The Vermont environment? I suggest that despite the best intentions of all involved it is unlikely. Regulators tend to get captured by the regulated industry. (Think of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.) It has nothing to do with individuals and personalities: it is the power structure of the situation.
I would want public control of VELCO and if the Gaz Metro merger does go ahead, there had better be ways to ensure that the new behemoth cannot use its near monopoly power to manipulate our permitting process. And I don’t actually see how you can do that. Hence, my recommendation: no merger.
Rep. Cynthia Browning
Arlington
(Ph.D. in Economics, University of Michigan)
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Vermont’s democracy and economy is better if it is based on local ownership and local control, not foreign ownership and foreign control.
Next thing we will have a Vermont governor kowtowing to foreign corporations to get campaign contributions to get elected.
Next thing we will have a group of politically-well-connected Vermont and foreign oligarchs calling the shots in Vermont.
Next thing we will have a bunch of bureaucrats in Montpelier coddling foreign corporations at the expense of Vermont households and businesses.
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@ Plumb:
“Let’s keep our control of electricity as much as possible within our Vermont boundaries!”
So renew VY’s license. At least the plant is located within our borders (unlike HydroQuebec, Seabrook, and all the grid power we’re going to have to buy to fill the gap) and the ownership is US based.
@ Post:
“Next thing we will have a Vermont governor kowtowing to foreign corporations to get campaign contributions to get elected.”
Um, newsflash . . . already happening. And, BTW, do you think getting re-election cash from national gay rights groups didn’t play a role in Peter the Speeder’s decision to appoint Beth Robinson to the Vermont Supreme Court?
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Gaz Metro is owned by another company, which is owned by GDF-Suez of France.
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/enbridge-to-increase-investment-in-noverco-tsx-enb-1389920.htm