Several customers of Green Mountain Power say the public needs to know more about why a Canadian pipeline company wants to buy a larger stake in GMP and Vermont Gas Systems.
The state Public Utility Commission is now reviewing the ownership change.
A hearing Friday was mainly to lay out a schedule for the case and for the public to get involved. Geoffrey Gardner, a GMP customer from Bradford, asked the commission to admit him in the case, which would give him the right to offer testimony and question witnesses.
Gardner said he’s very much interested in why Enbridge, a major North American pipeline company, wants to boost its stake in two of Vermont's biggest utilities.
“Is Enbridge going to be interested in using Vermont as a pass-through state to deliver gas to other states and to the coast for export?” Gardner asked
GMP and Vermont Gas are both part of a multi-layered ownership structure involving Canadian pension funds, a major Quebec natural gas company, and Enbridge.
The deal under review would increase Enbridge’s stake in the Vermont companies’ Canadian corporate parent to about 39 percent.
More from VPR — Canadian Pipeline Company To Increase Indirect Ownership Of Vermont Utilities [May 17]
At the Friday pre-hearing conference, the hearing officer asked for more information on how the corporate boards of the parent companies would change, and how that would influence the two Vermont utilities.
Gardner said these are good questions, since part of the restructuring plan is to eliminate public ownership of shares.
“The company is going private, that is they’ve cut out the public stockholders,” Gardner said. “And so the question is, what does that mean? And even the hearing examiner of the PUC have identified the composition of the board of directors as potentially being important.”
Both GMP and Vermont Gas say they operate independently and that the change in ownership won’t affect their operations. A Vermont Gas spokeswoman said last week the company has no plans to expand its pipeline in northwest Vermont.
Rachel Smolker, a Hinesburg resident, has opposed the gas pipeline expansion in Addison County. Smolker said natural gas is a booming international commodity, and she questioned the motives behind the deal.
“I think that’s the big question, is why are they wanting to do this? And we do need to know, [and] we need to have a really clear answer,” Smolker said. “And I think we need to have an answer that looks at the big picture of what the gas industry is doing and what the energy markets themselves are doing — because that’s what players like Enbridge, and Vermont Gas to some extent, are looking at, is this bigger picture of energy markets and gas, and exports.”
Smolker said she hopes the PUC review will provide a forum to get the answers. Vermont has some leverage, since the transaction needs the approval of shareholders, a Canadian court, federal regulators in Washington and the state PUC.
