Vt. Senate committee talks power line purchase

MONTPELIER, Vt. — A Vermont Senate committee is working on a plan to have the state take a majority stake in its high-tension power transmission grid, now that a proposed merger between the state's two largest utilities would put control of Vermont's electric backbone under Canadian control.

The proposed merger of Green Mountain Power and Central Vermont Public Service under the ownership of Montreal-based Gaz Metro has raised concerns that Vermont could end up facing pressure for new high-voltage lines carrying electricity from hydropower-rich Quebec to the energy-hungry cities of southern New England and New York.

Bulk transmissions of power in the state currently are handled by the Vermont Electric Power Company, known as VELCO, of which a combined Green Mountain Power and Central Vermont Public Service — and their parent Gaz Metro — would own a majority share.

"The transmission grid is really akin to our interstate highway system, except it's one better," said Sen. Vincent Illuzzi, R-Essex-Orleans and chairman of the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs. "There is no other route by which Vermonters receive their electricity."

"There are decisions made by VELCO that impact the lives of all Vermonters," Illuzzi continued. As examples he cited "where transmission lines go, how big they are, who they primarily serve, what rates are charged to the distribution utilities which are in turn passed on to the ratepayers."

The administration of Gov. Peter Shumlin has asked the state's utility regulators, the Public Service Board, that if it approves the merger it make a condition that five of the 13 members on the VELCO board represent the public, limiting Gaz Metro's sway over VELCO's operations.

Illuzzi's committee appears poised to go much further — to outright state ownership of 51 percent of VELCO. The panel was working Wednesday to draft an amendment to be offered on a mid-year budget adjustment bill on Thursday. Illuzzi said he expected it would stall the Public Service Board's review of the proposed merger while lawmakers flesh out their takeover plan — including how to pay for it.

The proposal, if introduced, is likely to spark a battle in the Senate.

"I think it's crazy," Senate President Pro Tem John Campbell said of Illuzzi's proposal. "We wouldn't just be buying the assets, we'd be buying the current liabilities and the potential liabilities as well."