Vermont seeking ideas for secure electric future
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By Louis Porter Vermont Press Bureau - Published: August 19, 2006
MONTPELIER — Vermonters have been enjoying a stable electricity supply compared to their New England neighbors during the last few years. Long-term power contracts with the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant and Hydro-Quebec network of dams have meant predictable — and, at least recently, fairly low power prices compared to those paid in Massachusetts, Connecticut and some other Northeastern states.
Vermont, unlike its neighbors, has retained a fully regulated market for electricity, something states that once led the vanguard on deregulation now look at with envy.
Over the next decade those contracts will end and state and legislative officials are asking Vermonters to help them prepare.
At the request of lawmakers, the Department of Public Service is looking for a contractor to run a series of public hearings, polls and Internet-based dialogue over the next several months.
The goal of the search is to figure out where Vermonters want their power to come from and what they expect to pay for it during the next quarter-century.
"We have very imperfect choices on our plate. There are trade-offs to every decision," said Speaker of the House Gaye Symington, D-Jericho.
"We hope we will be able to present an informed public with our energy picture and what our energy options are going forward," said Commissioner of Public Service David O'Brien. That public will be "a diverse cross-section of Vermonters in terms of what their thoughts, desires and ultimately priorities are."
Those Vermonters have a lot of choices to make. Industrial-scale wind power is one potential renewable electricity source, but opponents, including Gov. James Douglas, worry about the damage to the state's ridgelines.
Nuclear power is fairly reliable, but leaves spent fuel waste that must be stored indefinitely, and it is unlikely that a new plant will be built in the region anytime soon, even if Yankee is relicensed.
Meanwhile, burning natural gas to produce power is subject to price changes and residents worry about the pollution coal plants produce.
And bringing in electricity from other places means more power transmission lines like the ones now being built by the Vermont Electric Power Co.
Vermonters who are directly involved have been weighing in on those issues and questions like how much to spend on energy efficiency in a piecemeal way, but it is time for a comprehensive conversation about the issues, Symington said.
"Figuring out what Vermont's energy future is going to be is really critical and we are running out of time if we really want to have choices," she said. "We are going to have no choices if we keep waiting."
That is because, although the major power supply contracts don't start expiring for several years, it also takes several years to build new electricity generating stations, whether they are powered by the wind or some other source, said Rep. Robert Dostis, D-Waterbury, chairman of the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee.
Dostis, Symington and Sen. Virginia Lyons, D-Chittenden, worked with other lawmakers to include what Symington calls the "public engagement process" in the energy bill passed last year and signed by Douglas. It is a good example of cooperation between Democratic lawmakers and the Republican administration on addressing an issue, O'Brien said.
The power will still be there to run everything from manufacturing machinery to residential light bulbs in Vermont. But the cost will go up — some customers in other states have seen an 80 percent increase — especially if Vermont utilities end up buying their power on the open market, which is dependent in the Northeast on the cost of natural gas.
"Right now it is still relatively inexpensive. That is going to change as the cost of the resources increase, especially fossil fuels," Dostis said.
The Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger in Burlington, where Dostis works, has already seen a drastic increase in its electricity bills over the same period last year, despite reducing its power usage, Dostis said.
"Despite using less we are paying more," he said. "That is going to be the trend for the future. Vermonters need to understand that and it is a resource we can no longer take for granted."
And many of the utilities in the state, including the two largest, are seeking rate increases.
Since the state has just issued its "request for proposals" to consulting firms potentially interested in running the "public engagement process" it is not clear how long the program will take, or what it will cost.
O'Brien said it is likely to take more than six months, given the complexity of the issue and the number of components in the program.
"One of the best things we can accomplish is to get more people in the public to understand these issues," he said. "The broader that conversation is the better."
Vermont has some advantages as it embarks on planning for its future energy supply, he said.
One of the big ones is that the state remains a regulated market, where utilities' rates are based on their costs. He considered whether Vermont should follow other New England states into deregulation when he came into office, but decided the state had been right several years earlier to turn away from the idea, O'Brien said.
"If my peers around the region had to do it over again, I don't believe they would have made the decision they did," he said Friday.
Another advantage is having a few years of long-term contracts left to work on the issue.
But if Vermont has some benefits it also remains a tiny part of a larger national and international power market. For instance, disruptions in the natural gas supply sent a price spike into the Northeast and elsewhere.
"Hurricane Katrina happens and that affects the New England grid. We are not an island in this whole discussion," Symington said.
"We have been talking tower-by-tower, whether it is a wind tower, a cooling tower for a nuke plant or a VELCO (power transmission line) tower," she said. "We don't have a context for it."
Contact Louis Porter at louisporter@rutlandherald.com
Contact Louis Porter at louisporter@timesargus.com
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