Posted by Dennis Herrick on June 16, 2009 at 09:10:49:
Unitil spokesmouth Wesley Eberle insists Unitil is a "changed company" since the ice storm. Then why is it that they're still rewarding their inventors with 6.5% dividends? I can't wait to see this years bonus structure. Bonus? I haven't even gotten a raise in two years because of the depressed semiconductor industry let alone a bonus.
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Union boss misses point of hitting Unitil with hefty fine
Sentinel & Enterprise
Posted: 06/16/2009 06:32:27 AM EDT
Gary Sullivan, president of the Utility Workers Union, recently denounced the fine that Attorney General Martha Coakley proposes be assessed against Unitil for its response to this past winter's ice storm.
He correctly notes that there is no guarantee that any fine levied by the DPU will ... benefit ... the ratepayers or the communities Unitil is supposed to serve.
However, his response completely misses the real point of the proposed fine.
Unitil's failure to properly plan for and respond to what Unitil has repeatedly characterized as an "unprecedented" event continued a pattern of corporate policy that concentrated primarily upon paying dividends to its shareholders, not in providing the best service to its customers at competitive rates.
The fact of the matter is that Unitil paid $8 million in dividends to its shareholders last year instead of using those funds to hire the necessary line and tree crews to maintain, repair and upgrade a delivery system desperately in need of improvements after years of neglect.
The failure to properly maintain its delivery system and to plan for ice storms begins and ends at the top, with senior management.
It is said that sometimes you have to hit a mule between the eyes with a 2x4 to get its attention.
As its most recent inability to properly respond to the power outage is nothing more than a repeat of its failure in the late 1990s when we and Unitil last experienced an ice storm -- also
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described by Unitil, if I recall correctly, as unprecedented -- it is obvious to me that Unitil needs just that kind of incentive before it will properly serve its customers in this area.
Moreover, we should all support the bill introduced by Rep. DiNatale to require any utility whose rates are not competitive and whose infrastructure has not been properly maintained to suspend all dividend payments to its shareholders until it has remedied those deficiencies.
Only then can we eliminate the very real existing environment in which businesses terminate or refuse to locate operations in Fitchburg due to excessively high utility costs.
Any portion of that $8 million in savings not used to pay whatever fine the DPU assesses against Unitil would be well spent upgrading Unitil's system or reducing its costs, and it should create additional jobs for the union Mr. Sullivan represents.
Furthermore, we should encourage our state legislature to change a regulatory process that has largely granted utility companies carte blanche to pay substantial dividends to its stockholders while simultaneously turning a blind eye to the utility's substandard performance.
David Nickless,
Fitchburg
Comments:
Jim
Fitchburg, MA
#1 53 min ago
Nice response, This is not Unitils first failure, they have failed again and again, and each time blames someone else.
They have no right to be in business, and until they can be forced out of the utility business, and someone else is allowed to come in, the corruption will continue.
It's the Administration and Board that's corrupt, and we should not blame all their employees as they are simply doing what they are told.
Marie in the Burg
Leominster, MA
#2 10 min ago
"Moreover, we should all support the bill introduced by Rep. DiNatale to require any utility whose rates are not competitive and whose infrastructure has not been properly maintained to suspend all dividend payments to its shareholders until it has remedied those deficiencies."
ABSOLUTELY!!!!!