Stowe Electric will not be sold

The Stowe Electric Commission has announced that Stowe Electric will not be sold in the near future, despite very serious offers from investor-owned utilities, Green Mountain Power (GMP) and Central Vermont Public Service (CVPS).

"Our basic conclusion is that we feel it isn’t to the best advantage for us," said Stowe Electric Commission Chairman Arthur Lloyd. The uncertainties on future rates for both companies, as well as other issues, outweigh the potential for a sale."

Both GMP and CVPS buy power from the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon which may be decommissioned. According to Lloyd, this could raise rates at the larger utilities. The decommissioning would not affect Stowe because it doesn't buy power from the plant. The takeover would also involve a lot of legal untangling of contracts that Stowe has with The McNeil wood-burning power project with the Vermont Public Power Supply Authority and the Stony Brook plant project through the Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Co.

Stowe Electric also has agreements with other businesses in town, including the Mt. Mansfield Co., which runs Stowe Mountain Resort and is the largest customer of Stowe Electric. Under the resort’s contract with Stowe Electric, it cuts off snowmaking at certain times to avoid overloading the town grid, in exchange for cheaper rates on power used for snowmaking.

Another factor in favor of continued independence is maintaining a "first call" policy with ratepayers, Lloyd said, meaning Stowe customers don’t have to wait for service in the same line as customers at the larger utilities.

Stowe has also cut off talks involving a merger with Morrisville Water and Light and Hyde Park Village Water and Light because they didn’t think merging the utilities would be cost-effective.