In the late 1990s, the Seabrook Nuclear Plant bankrupted the Public Service Company of New Hampshire and their customers saw new stranded costs on their bills to bail them out. Since then, the utilities were restricted from owning power generation plants — they could only charge for operating and maintenance, wholesale electricity and the distribution.
As one of the first “too-big-to-fail” bankruptcies in the United States, the Seabrook Nuclear Plant shows us clearly the risks of allowing utilities to build nuclear power plants. We only need to turn to the present day Vogtle nuke plant in Georgia to see the same cost overruns, the same consumer protection failures and the absence of prudent planning. And yet House Bill 1775, a bill recently signed into law by Gov. Ayotte, does just that.
It seems legislators have forgotten what happened in the past here or in Georgia more recently. Many of these vocal supporters may not have bothered to learn about Plant Vogtle or the dysfunctional financing of Seabrook nuclear plant or the Public Service Company of New Hampshire bankruptcy, but the Governor and the New Hampshire Department of Energy should have been smarter than that.
HB 1775 has language stating utilities can recoup losses from their grandiose plans that are not reviewed or validated by the state or the public. The utilities are also guaranteed about 10% profit on these investments. Why are legislators so excited about building more nuke plants in New Hampshire? Eversource, a company that posted earnings of $1.69 billion for 2025, doesn’t need more excuses to raise our rates nor did they publicly support the bill — the state needs to require more transparency to justify their rates, more options to lower working families’ energy burden and reduce pollution in order to demonstrate that the rates are just and reasonable.
Gov. Kelly Ayotte says she is trying to lower ratepayers’ energy bills. If that’s truly the case, she should have vetoed HB 1775 as all it does is lead us toward another bankruptcy of ratepayers’ trust and decades of stranded costs.
New Hampshire doesn’t need utilities with more power or more stockholder profits. It needs just and reasonable electricity rates — something renewable energy like wind and solar paired with batteries can deliver quickly, cheaply and safely. Call Gov. Ayotte to tell her lowering energy bills needs less ideological gamesmanship and more realistic solutions.
Paul Button is owner of Energy Audits Unlimited, LLC, and a volunteer for the Sierra Club NH Energy Committee. He lives in Manchester.