Repost from: VT Digger 04/12/2012
Gov. Peter Shumlin stepped away from the podium at his weekly news conference Wednesday, allowing state and federal geologists to display new maps of Vermont’s literal foundation, including bedrock which has been around for 1.4 billion years and scattered deposits of hard, flinty, granite.
After the geologists left the room, Shumlin turned hard and flinty himself on the issue that has dominated the Statehouse for days – the $21 million utility merger “windfall” and how it would be returned to the Central Vermont Public Service Corp. customers who paid it over the last several years.
A clear majority of the Senate, a likely majority of the House, and quite possibly a majority of the electorate think the money ought to be paid back by being … paid back, refunded to the customers of the utility, which has agreed to merge with Green Mountain Power.
The two utilities and the Shumlin administration disagree, and Shumlin defended his position more bluntly than he had before. His preference – that the $21 million be used to improve the “energy efficiency” of the homes and businesses of CVPS customers – was “the best possible deal for ratepayers,” he said, even if it meant that some of those customers would not get their money back as the term is usually understood.
Click here for more information: VT Digger
Leave a Reply