New Hampshire residents received a nasty holiday surprise from the Public Utilities Commission last month, which acted to seriously undermine the state’s fledgling energy efficiency program, negating several years of progress in providing energy conservation incentives. This successful program has improved the lives of many citizens. Cold, drafty homes have been made comfortable while participants have reaped economic benefits through lower utility bills. The program has spawned considerable growth in New Hampshire’s green building industry and 10,000 workers’ jobs in the energy efficiency field are now at risk.
Incentives are funded by a small charge on utility bills, which is reimbursed many times over in the form of rebates to homeowners taking advantage of the program. The commissioners must be aware of this positive economic outcome so why are they taking this action? The cynic in me says it’s political, reflecting a so-called “conservative” outlook. This attitude represents a U-turn from old Yankee conservatism, which extolled thriftiness as exemplified in the adage “waste not want not.”
Now that has been turned on its head, and instead we have this short-sighted action that encourages business as usual: profligate use of fossil fuels and living well beyond our means when considering the planetary cost of unchecked use of oil, gas and coal. We hope the considerable public outcry and lawsuit against the PUC’s wrongheaded action will be successful in reversing this action. New Hampshire is dead last among New England states in providing energy efficiency incentives. Time to put “conserve” back in “conservative”.
Stuart White
Hanover