(Host) The state’s largest electric utility is buying one of Vermont’s smallest. Central Vermont Public Service has agreed to buy the assets of the Vermont Marble Power Division of Omya.
Vermont Marble serves just 875 customers in Proctor but it also provides electricity to a large Omya manufacturing plant in Florence.
Larry Reilly is the new president of CVPS. He says the company plans to upgrade the four hydroelectric plants now owned by Vermont Marble.
(Reilly) "Those customers were being served by an old aging supply system that was going to need some significant upgrades in the very near future. This way the cost of those upgrades will not be borne just by that community but by CV in general.’
(Host) The upgrades should result in another 3 megawatts of renewable power.
CVPS has agreed to buy the assets of Vermont Marble for $29 million. Utility customers in Proctor will see rate increases phased in over five years. That’s because their rates are currently subsidized by Vermont Marble and are lower than what CVPS charges.
The sale still requires the approval of state utility regulators.