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State may evaluate purchase of damsBy SUSAN SMALLHEER The dams, currently owned by US Gen New England, a subsidiary of financially troubled PG&E National Energy Group, have been for sale for more than a year. Two bills are pending in the 2003 Legislature concerning the dams. One would
lay the groundwork for state ownership by creating a state power authority, and
the other would allow the town of Officials from PG&E Energy Group met with the Senate Institutions
Committee on Thursday to discuss the pending sale of the dams. Cleve Kapala,
director of government operations for US Gen, said the sale of the PG&E has already taken a $1.1 billion pre-tax loss on the generating facilities, Kapala said. The Vermont House, which passed its capital construction bill this week, didn’t include any money for the project, said Illuzzi, the committee chairman. He said he expected the Senate to vote on the bill in about three weeks. He said he was “intrigued” by the idea of power from the “Wouldn’t it be great if So far, the The six dams, which stretch from the giant Moore Dam in the north to the
Vernon Dam in southern Currently, none of the power from the But neither Kapala nor George Boothby, another PG&E employee, would say how much money US Gen makes from the dams, or how much they were worth. The two largest and most productive dams, Moore at 190 megawatts and Comerford at 161 are the two largest hydroelectric
facilities in However, US Gen New England is selling more than just the Kapala wouldn’t name names, but Illuzzi noted that Brazcan, a Canadian energy conglomerate, has been mentioned as a possible bidder for the power system. He said that when the hydro system was purchased in 1998, the closing price was $1.59 billion. Rockingham wants to buy the Since PG&E bought the dams, it has invested heavily in automation, according to Boothby. He said the number of employees at New England Power, the original owner, had been cut to 87 employees. In 1997, when the dams were sold, there were 166 employees, he said. Now all the dams are controlled remotely from offices in Wilder, a village in
the town of Property taxes drive the cost of the power more than the operating costs, he said, noting that operating costs for the dams was $18 million. Kapala said that US Gen paid about $15 million in property taxes annually: $7
million in Rockingham recently won a big court case against US Gen over its tax appraisal, a win closely watched by other towns that have reduced their dam appraisals in the face of a challenge from US Gen. Illuzzi said later Thursday that power authorities work well in other states,
including And he and Sen. Matthew Dunne, D-Windsor, said several municipal power authorities operate in the state — the largest being the Burlington Electric Department. Reaction from the Senate committee ranged from Illuzzi’s enthusiasm to the studied indifference of Sen. Julius Canns, R-Caledonia, whose district includes Moore and Comerford. “Which dam has the best fish?” was the only question he asked. Contact Susan Smallheer at susan.smallheer@rutlandherald.com. |