Posted by Dennis Herrick on March 13, 2010 at 08:13:19:
Patrick pushes muni bill
By Dan Magazu, dmagazu@sentinelandenterprise.com
Posted: 03/13/2010 06:32:23 AM EST
LUNENBURG -- Supporters of legislation that would make it more feasible for a community to form a municipal utility got an endorsement from Gov. Deval Patrick this week, as the deadline to move the bill out of the committee level for a vote approaches.
House Bill 3087 and Senate Bill 1527 would amend state law so a community can purchase its electric infrastructure at a fair price determined by the state Department of Public Utilities. Current law allows investor-owned utilities, such as Unitil, to simply reject any offer.
Patrick recently signed a petition in support of the new legislation. The petition was created by Lunenburg resident Cathy Clark and Lexington resident Patrick Mehr, a member of the Massachusetts Alliance for Municipal Electric Choice, who has been fighting for passage of the bill since 2001.
"We're thrilled that the governor signed the petition and recognized the need for communities to have a choice," Clark said Friday. "I had hoped he would have signed it sooner. We harassed the heck out of him."
Patrick signed the petition Thursday.
"The bills under consideration are a step in the right direction and will allow residents greater local control and input into utility investment policies and decisions, services and service levels," Patrick wrote on the petition. "I look forward to reviewing the final bill when it reaches my desk."
The petition, which is found at http://www.gopetition.com/online/33498.html, had been signed by 2,241 people as of Friday, including Republican gubernatorial candidate Christy Mihos and State Treasurer Tim Cahill, who is running for governor as an independent.
State Rep. Stephen DiNatale, D-Fitchburg, said the joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy, of which he is a member, recently voted to extend the deadline for reporting out the legislation during the 2009-10 legislative session.
"We just voted on Wednesday to place this into an extension," DiNatale said Friday. "The deadline had been March 17, but now we've got another month."
State Rep. Jennifer Benson, D-Lunenburg, also sits on the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy and has been advocating to move the legislation out of the committee for a vote.
DiNatale said he's hopeful the bills will be voted on during the current session. He said he was not surprised to hear that Patrick had signed the petition in favor of the legislation.
"I think he's been on board with this for quite some time," DiNatale said.
Advocates of the law argue that it would, at a minimum, create the threat of competition and give companies more incentive to provide better quality service and less expensive rates.
Locally, Clark and Mehr believe a regional municipal utility that includes Lunenburg, Fitchburg, Ashby and Townsend could be economically feasible. All four communities are currently served by Unitil.
Comments
retired Utilitly man
Leominster, MA
#1
12 hrs ago I have read the artical for the formation of a muni in the Fitchburg, Ashby, Luneburg, and Townsend. The petition that is out there has 2,241 signatures. Comparing the population of the region that this muni would serve two thousand signatures is un-impressive. There is approximatly 63,000 residents in these four towns 2,241 signatures represents about 3.5% of the people. It would be one thing if the four towns were economicaly sound but anyone from the region knows that is not true. Now a few want the towns to add greatly to their already signficant debt because they are angry about a strom that hit over a year ago. In the four towns listed there is no one in city or town goverment that has any experience with running a utility. They would have to add a lot of people to the payrolls. These workers would not come cheap. The average cost of a single line truck is about $400,000 and lets not forget the salarys of the people. The base pay for one lineman is $1,400 a week.
This does not count for overtime or benifits. The two thousand people that signed the petition should be careful for what they wish for they might just get it.
Cathy
Leominster, MA
#2
Please check out: http://www.massmunichoice.org
On this site you will find the economic model of a muni for the 28,0000 ratepayers affected by Unitil. With 41 muni's being cost effective and more reliable than Investor owned utilities, it makes practical sense for the communities to consider doing this as a region. Muni's run as a seperate entity and do not fall on the burden of the towns. The ratepayers who have bills into the hundreds need and deserve relief. "It's that simple".
The mere passing of the muni choice bill will bring much needed competition which is essential.
As ratepayers know, this isn't just because of a storm....continued blue sky outages, infrastructure that is visibally deteriorating and unjustified high bills are the reason we deserve change.
J_in_Ward_1
Lancaster, MA
#3
I know utility retirees are worried they might lose their generous benefit packages if a muni is formed so I'm not surprised at the comments above, but they are not factual.
Unitil's customers continue to hate them as they did before, during and after the storm. You cannot expect everyone to sign a petition - the 63,000 residents include babies, elderly folks with no access to computers, people not fluent in written English, etc. Some just haven't heard about the petition, but more are signing all the time.
A muni would be a separate entity funded by ratepayers not by town budgets. It would provide lower rates and/or better service, thus attracting more businesses to the area and building up the tax base, increasing city and town revenues. Payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) would replace the taxes utilities pay.
Positions in the utility would be filled as they are in the private sector, by advertising for qualified personnel. There are 41 successful municipal utilities in Massachusetts and many others across the country that have no trouble attracting and retaining quality personnel. Maybe it's because working conditions are so much better - despite lower rates, munis employ three times more lineworkers per customer as investor owned utilities do. It's not so frustrating to try to deal with outages and other problems when you have a sufficient number of coworkers to help you out and you work fewer late or weekend hours when you have the staff to do preventive vegetation and line maintenance throughout the year instead of waiting for a problem to occur.
Want to know more about the benefits of municipal utilities? Check out this link:
http://www.massmunichoice.org
ratepayer
Leominster, MA
#4
Unitil should sell its infrustructure to the four towns so that the Cathy Clarks and the J in ward 1's of the world can fall flat on there face. The electric distribution business is no longer profitable. The level of service that is demanded is far to expensive these days. Since the ice storm everytime it clouds up and there is a threat of a storm contract crews are brought in. Only a company the size of National Grid can do this. If Cathy Clark and J in ward one believe the four towns can handle Ice storms and wind storms and heavy thunder storms they should change their names to Cathy and J from wonderland.
former resident
Leominster, MA
#5
J_in_Ward_1 wrote:
I know utility retirees are worried they might lose their generous benefit packages if a muni is formed so I'm not surprised at the comments above, but they are not factual.
Unitil's customers continue to hate them as they did before, during and after the storm. You cannot expect everyone to sign a petition - the 63,000 residents include babies, elderly folks with no access to computers, people not fluent in written English, etc. Some just haven't heard about the petition, but more are signing all the time at this link:
http://www.tinyurl.com/munipetition
A muni would be a separate entity funded by ratepayers not by town budgets. It would provide lower rates and/or better service, thus attracting more businesses to the area and building up the tax base, increasing city and town revenues. Payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) would replace the taxes utilities pay.
Positions in the utility would be filled as they are in the private sector, by advertising for qualified personnel. There are 41 successful municipal utilities in Massachusetts and many others across the country that have no trouble attracting and retaining quality personnel. Maybe it's because working conditions are so much better - despite lower rates, munis employ three times more lineworkers per customer as investor owned utilities do. It's not so frustrating to try to deal with outages and other problems when you have a sufficient number of coworkers to help you out and you work fewer late or weekend hours when you have the staff to do preventive vegetation and line maintenance throughout the year instead of waiting for a problem to occur.
Want to know more about the benefits of municipal utilities? Check out this link:
http://www.massmunichoice.org
J are you serious two thousand people out of 63000 even you looking in the mirror have to admit that is a pethetic showing. Your going to try to convince us that 61000 people are babys, elderly, non-english speaking. Why dont you get a clue, people have moved on. Get over it find a cause worth fighting. The municipal idea in this area is a looser from the get go.
Patrick Mehr - MAMEC
Lexington, MA
#6
The preliminary economics of a muni replacing Unitil in Fitchburg, Lunenburg, Townsend and Ashby or in Lunenburg alone are at http://www.massmunichoice.org/Documents/munis...
No such muni is possible unless Bills H3087 and S1527 are enacted because obsolete language in our century-old statute (MGL Chapter 164, section 43) allows Unitil to keep its monopoly.
Once the bills are enacted, more detailed feasibility studies will be necessary to determine whether a muni can economically replace Unitil.
Patrick Mehr
Massachusetts Alliance for Municipal Electric Choice
http://www.massmunichoice.org
Taxpayer
Worcester, MA
#7
Threat of competition..... Unitil must be shaking in their boots!!! Now, if we could change over to National Grid......
Look for agendas here!
south shore spokesman
Fitchburg, MA
#8
That's a great idea, having Fitchburg run the power company. We could all go back to whale oil lamps when they bankrupt it!
Stamos
#9
Patrick Mehr - MAMEC wrote:
The preliminary economics of a muni replacing Unitil in Fitchburg, Lunenburg, Townsend and Ashby or in Lunenburg alone are at http://www.massmunichoice.org/Documents/munis...
No such muni is possible unless Bills H3087 and S1527 are enacted because obsolete language in our century-old statute (MGL Chapter 164, section 43) allows Unitil to keep its monopoly.
Once the bills are enacted, more detailed feasibility studies will be necessary to determine whether a muni can economically replace Unitil.
Patrick Mehr
Massachusetts Alliance for Municipal Electric Choice
http://www.massmunichoice.org
This is just political posturing for the upcoming slaughter.
What muni would want to purchase any company that the governemnt is trying to bankrupt. Trust me, Unitils days are numbered without muni.
Devalue Patrick is all in on the "CAP and TRADE" hoax. Not to mention Ed Markey (D-MA) who's leading the way in trying to tamp down the development of shale gas by playing up the Green Nazi environmental angle.
Why would Patrick and Markey rather accept subsidized heating oil from Venezuela's thuggish Hugo Chávez than tap our own energy reserves? Doesn't it get rather cold in Massachusetts in winter?
Mr Bull
Marlborough, MA
#10
7 hrs ago Stamos, you know everything. You must have 15 or 20 advanced college degrees. With all those degrees, I'm suprised you are not working and have all this time to post 24/7.
Stamos
Since: Feb 10
#11
6 hrs ago Mr Bull wrote:
Stamos, you know everything. You must have 15 or 20 advanced college degrees. With all those degrees, I'm suprised you are not working and have all this time to post 24/7.
I'm just a little shy of your low number. And I am working 24/7 and would like to "thank you" for subsidizing part of my income.
J_in_Ward_1
Lancaster, MA
#12
ratepayer wrote:
Only a company the size of National Grid can do this.
Once a town takes control of its infrastructure it can sell it to a larger, more responsive company like National Grid or it can retain ownership while hiring a private company to operate the utility for them. Running the muni themselves is the third option.
And of course no town is compelled to set up a muni - this is merely an option - the option for local control instead of a mandatory state-sanctioned monopoly with no competition and therefore no need to be concerned about its customers.
J_in_Ward_1
Lancaster, MA
#13
ratepayer wrote:
The electric distribution business is no longer profitable.
Guaranteed double digit rates of return in the worst recession since the Great Depression are extremely profitable.
I'm sure those of you at Unitil are looking further back into history though, and getting all nostalgic about the Robber Baron era.
Stamos
#14
J_in_Ward_1 wrote:
Once a town takes control of its infrastructure it can sell it to a larger, more responsive company like National Grid or it can retain ownership while hiring a private company to operate the utility for them. Running the muni themselves is the third option.
And of course no town is compelled to set up a muni - this is merely an option - the option for local control instead of a mandatory state-sanctioned monopoly with no competition and therefore no need to be concerned about its customers.
Down in Florida I have dibs in a muni. My energy costs are less than 2 months of my old annual energy fees with Unitil and that includes all heat/air and electric. One of the best decisions I've ever made was to eliminate Unitil as one of my utility providers. I still have a utility dependency in Ma. but it's not with Unitil, thank God!
Ashburnham Resident
Falls Church, VA
#15
I live in Ashburnham and we have a great Municipal Light Plant. I don't know of anyone in my town that would have anything else but AMLP. During the Ice Storm of 2008, the AMLP was heroic and really showed us how an excellent operation dealt with an emergency.
For me, there really isn't any debate. Unitil is terrible and should be forced out of Massachusetts. Municipal light plants are the way to go because they are local and they care about local service.
Isn't it too bad that the people's will is once again thwarted by government?
George
Marlborough, MA
#16
retired Utilitly man wrote:
I have read the artical for the formation of a muni in the Fitchburg, Ashby, Luneburg, and Townsend. The petition that is out there has 2,241 signatures. Comparing the population of the region that this muni would serve two thousand signatures is un-impressive. There is approximatly 63,000 residents in these four towns 2,241 signatures represents about 3.5% of the people. It would be one thing if the four towns were economicaly sound but anyone from the region knows that is not true. Now a few want the towns to add greatly to their already signficant debt because they are angry about a strom that hit over a year ago. In the four towns listed there is no one in city or town goverment that has any experience with running a utility. They would have to add a lot of people to the payrolls. These workers would not come cheap. The average cost of a single line truck is about $400,000 and lets not forget the salarys of the people. The base pay for one lineman is $1,400 a week.
This does not count for overtime or benifits. The two thousand people that signed the petition should be careful for what they wish for they might just get it.
Mr. "Utilitly" man. After reviewing your spelling and use of the English language, I CAN'T BELIEVE SOMEONE PAID YOU IN EXCESS OF $1,400 A WEEK. You are a classic example of how unions have contributed to the upcoming demise of this country.