[V]ermonters who are watching a proposed ownership change involving Green Mountain Power and Vermont Gas say they’re relying on the state’s Public Utilities Commission to review the deal and to block it if necessary.
The transaction involves a change in ownership structure in a web of Canadian energy companies.
GMP and Vermont Gas are owned by the Canadian company Energir LP, which itself is jointly owned by the Canadian companies Energir Inc. and Valener Inc.
In the petition now before the PUC, the investment holding company Noverco is seeking to buy out Valener in a $1.2 billion deal. Noverco also provides power production, gas storage and marketing services to customers in Vermont and Quebec, according to Bloomberg. There’s yet another company involved: Enbridge, Inc., which owns an equity interest in Noverco.
Noverco already has 79 percent interest in the companies that ultimately own Vermont Gas and Green Mountain Power.
If the deal is approved, “Noverco ultimately will have slightly more control over the companies that own GMP and Vermont Gas,” said James Porter, director of the public advocacy division at the Vermont Department of Public Service or DPS, before a hearing Friday.
“It’ll still be a minority owner. It’s a mix of American and Canadian holding companies, and when you really go up the food chain, these are very large companies in Canada as well,” Porter said. “So the control structure is changed a little bit, but only marginally.”
However, environmental advocates are worried about the impact in Vermont, and a handful of them came out Friday for a pre-hearing conference before the Public Utility Commission, or PUC. The matter is described in the Noverco petition to the PUC as “an indirect acquisition of a controlling interest in Vermont Gas Systems, Inc., Green Mountain Power Corporation, and subsidiaries of Green Mountain Power Corporation.”
Noverco is “an incredibly destructive company,” said Geoffrey Gardner of Bradford, who requested permission at the hearing to intervene in the case. Gardner was granted a slightly extended timeline – to 10 days – to gather support. He said he needs more time to determine what the change would mean for the Vermont companies, their customers, and the state.
“Does this mean Enbridge is going to take a more aggressive approach to gas pipelines in Vermont? Push harder to expand pipeline we already have?” Gardner said.
Enbridge says on its website that it moves nearly two-thirds of Canada’s crude oil exports to the U.S. and about 20 percent of the natural gas consumed by the U.S., and operates the third-largest natural gas utility (by customer count) in North America. Its stated goal is to be the continent’s leading energy delivery company.
“Is Enbridge going to be interested in using Vermont as a pass-through state to deliver gas to other states, and to the coast for export?” Gardner asked. “The name of the game in gas now is to get it out of the country and to markets in Europe and in Asia.”
David Blittersdorf, a longtime environmental activist in Vermont, said Thursday he was concerned about the proposed deal.
“You can’t help but be struck by how small the Vermont interests are within this vast array of foreign corporations,” said Blittersdorf, who started the solar company NRG Systems in Hinesbury and now owns AllEarth Renewables in Williston.
“In the context of a $300 billion company, it’s hard to imagine the interests of Vermonters being prioritized,” Blittersdorf said. “Most problematic is the presence of fossil fuel interests intertwined throughout this agreement. The bottom line is Vermonters need more renewables and much less fossil fuels, and we need to move in that direction quickly. This isn’t a step in that right direction.”
Green Mountain Power has maintained that the relative ownership shares are staying the same, and governance of the utility will not change either.
“GMP will continue to be a Vermont company run by Vermonters. It really solidifies that Vermont governance,” spokesperson Kristin Kelly said Thursday of the petition filed with the PUC.
In order for the deal to go through, it must receive approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC; from the PUC; and from a court in Quebec, said Dan Burke, special counsel to the Vermont DPS, which is a party to the PUC proceedings and will make a recommendation on the matter.
Burke said before the hearing that the department’s objective is to analyze whether the deal serves the public good.
“We just want there to be an opportunity to be sure that the current policies and goals of GMP and Vermont Gas are not going to be affected in any way by this change in ownership,” Burke said Thursday.
DPS is “seeking to find an outside consultant to find independent expert testimony on how or whether this would change the corporate governance structure of our Vermont utilities,” Burke said, “And if so whether it could affect their ability to comply with our statutory mandate related to energy policy goals such as renewable energy generation.”
Gardner believes the Canadian court and FERC will rapidly approve the deal, but he is hoping the PUC will consider rejecting it.
“Very few people are aware that this is happening, and as more people do become aware, there may be others who want to intervene and will have a basis for doing that,” Gardener said. “They gave us 10 days and I hope that’s enough.”
The PUC hearing officer, Lars Bang-Jensen, set out a schedule that stretches through the summer for future meetings on the case.
Debra Bouffard, a lawyer with Sheehey Furlong & Behm in Burlington, attended the hearing with client Renaud Faucher on behalf of Noverco. Faucher, who is on the board of Energir LP, said after the hearing that he agreed with the meeting schedule.
