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NEWS RELEASE Contact: Chris Sterndale
CONSUMER GROUP REJECTS PSNH SETTLEMENT
The Campaign for Ratepayers Rights (CRR) today called on the NH House Science, Technology and Energy Committee to reject the proposed settlement with Public Service Company of NH, and pursue a different course toward lower rates and competition. Executive Director Chris Sterndale testified that the savings from the settlement were much to low to justify the risks that ratepayers take on with the settlement.
“Years from now, we will be looking at neighboring states and other service territories in NH and asking why our electric rates are still higher than everywhere else,” said Sterndale. “The answer will lie in the Stranded Cost Recovery Charge—a few extra bucks on everyone’s bill that no law, no court, and no economic condition will free us from paying. And when this is all over, PSNH will be worthy of a Nobel Prize in Accounting.”
CRR’s position is that stranded costs are very likely to go down in the future, and that agreeing to a level of those costs now prevents ratepayers from getting savings in the future. Sterndale presented evidence that showed how the stranded costs had already changed since the settlement was negotiated. CRR suggested the following course of action to the committee: 1. Call on the Public Utilities Commission to immediately reduce rates by 10%, based upon its ‘benchmarking’ provided in the April 19 order;
This will provide comparable rate relief without the risks, and would put the state in a better position to use securitization for further savings later.
The full testimony is available at CRR’s web site: www.ratepayersrights.org
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