Friday, May 9
On Tuesday, the president and CEO of Vermont's largest electric utility told his company's stockholders that the state is at an energy "crossroads" and that Vermonters want greater energy efficiency and more renewable energy choices.

Robert Young, the head of Central Vermont Public Service Corp., has often expressed concern about what happens when the utility's current contracts with Vermont Yankee and Hydro-Quebec expire in 2012 and 2015, respectively. Both supply 80 percent of the state's electricity, and supply it a rate lower than what the rest of New England pays.

CVPS pays 4.1 cents per kilowatt hour for electricity from Vermont Yankee and between 6.5 and 7 cents per kilowatt hour for power from Hydro-Quebec. This compares to the current spot market price of 7 to 8 cents and a future guaranteed price for next year of 9.4 cents per kilowatt hour.

While rates are now low, they will not likely stay that way. Young expressed confidence that a new long-term contract with Hydro-Quebec will be in place, but he did not mention what the price will be. Likewise, Young still has faith that the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor in Vernon will be relicensed by the Nuclear

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Regulatory Commission, but he still supports an independent safety assessment to reassure Vermonters that the plant is safe.

We're spotlighting Young's comments to the CVPS shareholders here, because we think they illustrate how disingenuous Gov. James Douglas is in saying that he vetoed the Vermont Yankee decommissioning bill on Wednesday because "it would unnecessarily and substantially increase the cost of electricity on both businesses and families."

The Vermont Legislature passed a bill that would have required Entergy, Vermont Yankee's current owner, to guarantee that there would be enough money in the plant's decommissioning fund to fully dismantle the plant, even if the plant changes ownership. The fund has $415 million in it, and it may take double that amount to do the job.

Douglas believes this requirement would be an unfair burden on Entergy. But there's no reason to believe that by not enacting this bill, Entergy will keep Vermont's rates low. Certainly CVPS isn't counting on it. That's why it's lining up alternate sources of electricity.

At Tuesday's shareholder meeting, Young said that Hydro-Quebec had the capacity to make up the share of power Vermont Yankee produces if the plant's relicensing bid fall short. He also said there were other power options around the Northeast. The utility is also working on renewable power sources such as "Cow Power," which converts cow manure into methane gas to generate electricity. There are also a couple solar projects in the works.

CVPS is not waiting around for Douglas to come up with an energy policy. One could argue it's doing more than the Douglas administration to prepare for a possible future without Vermont Yankee. Sure, the administration would likely support relicensing the plant in exchange for a favorable power deal from Entergy. But we still believe he is dreaming if he thinks Entergy will keep giving us cheap power now that he's killed off the decommissioning bill.

The governor seems to trust Entergy. We don't. We believe the company is going to raise its rates after 2012 no matter what happens, just like Hydro-Quebec will likely charge more for power after 2015. But, thanks to Douglas, the taxpayers of Vermont will get stuck paying the cost of cleaning up Vermont Yankee tomorrow to appease the demands of the business community today.