Senator Wants Independent Review Of CVPS-GazMet Deal

Print More
MP3

(Host) A state senator is calling for an independent counsel to review the sale of the state’s largest utility to a Canadian company.

Essex-Orleans Senator Vince Illuzzi says the Shumlin administration is biased in favor of the deal, so an independent review is needed to protect the public interest.

VPR’s John Dillon has more:

(Dillon) Illuzzi says the sale of Central Vermont Public Service represents a huge realignment in the state’s utility business. If the deal goes through, one company – GazMet of Montreal – will serve about 70 percent of the state’s ratepayers.

The merged company will also have a big stake in VELCO, the company that controls the state’s bulk transmission system. Illuzzi, a Republican, says VELCO is the real prize in the CVPS sale. He’d like the public to control it.

(Illuzzi) "This is an unprecedented, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, to perhaps acquire the state’s interstate highway for the transmission of electricity, VELCO, and put that in public ownership so that the public decides where the system will be expanded or enhanced, who will use it, what the rates will be."

(Dillon) Illuzzi – who chairs the Senate Economic Development Committee – says he’s acting as a ratepayer, not a lawmaker. Over the weekend he gathered more than 30 signatures on a petition he filed with the Public Service Board. Illuzzi’s petition asks the board to appoint an independent counsel because he says Governor Peter Shumlin has already announced his support.

(Illuzzi) "And that’s before any due diligence has been undertaken. And the commissioner and the department work for the governor. There is no way in any state government that an appointee of the governor can, or would even dare, take any position contrary to the chief executive officer of the state."

(Dillon) Illuzzi also argues that the administration is too close to Green Mountain Power, which is already owned by GazMet of Montreal. He points out that Neale Lunderville, a top GMP official, was named by Shumlin as the state’s Irene recovery czar. And Illuzzi says Public Service Commissioner Elizabeth Miller – who heads the agency that advocates for ratepayers – has a conflict because her husband is a partner in a law firm that represents GMP.

GMP says an independent counsel is not necessary. Miller said in a statement that her department will work hard to protect ratepayers. And she rejected the notion that her husband’s job presents an appearance of a conflict. Miller said her husband does not work on utility issues.

Governor Shumlin’s spokeswoman also released a statement supporting the Department of Public Service’s role in the case. The statement says:

"Governor Shumlin has full and unreserved confidence in the department’s ability to thoroughly scrutinize the proposed merger and advocate in the best interest of Vermonters."

(Dillon) Washington Electric Cooperative has also asked to intervene in the CVPS sale case. Co-op President Barry Bernstein says the co-op is also concerned about the future of VELCO.

For VPR News, I’m John Dillon in Montpelier

Comments are closed.