Pilot Low-Income Program Approved in Vermont

On March 30, the Vermont Public Service Board approved a pilot program that will provide a discount to low-income customers of Green Mountain Power, an electric utility that serves about one quarter of the state.

The approval came as part of negotiations over the Board’s approval of the acquisition of Green Mountain Power by Northern New England Energy Corporation, a subsidiary of Gaz Metro Limited Partnership, a Canadian company. The low-income program details were worked out by AARP of Vermont and Green Mountain, with the Board giving the final approval. The pilot project will receive $1 million, part of a $9.3 million efficiency fund that Green Mountain was required to establish as a condition of the sale. 

Philene Taormina, director of advocacy for the AARP's Vermont office, said the program is an important first step in addressing a critical affordability problem facing thousands of Vermonters. She added any Green Mountain Power customer with an income up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level will be eligible for the program, which will provide a 10 percent discount to participating customers and also protect them from disconnection when the weather is expected to be below freezing.

She said the program is expected to begin once the sale is final, likely by the end of June, and eligible customers can sign up at local community action agencies.  It will operate until funding is gone.

In the meantime, legislation is pending in the state legislature to provide funding and design for a statewide low-income electric affordability program; this is a result of a bill passed last year requiring the Public Service Board to draft legislation that would establish such a program.  A ARP and other advocates point out that Vermont is the only New England state that offers no state- or utility-funded utility payment assistance, and that its electric rates (averaging 13.06 cents per kWh in 2005) are among the highest in the country.

For more information, see the Vermont Public Service Board’s website for the order approving the GMP sale and other related documents.

Source: Public Service Board, Vermont newspapers, AARP

Page Last Updated: April 6, 2007