Sununu veto ends failed electric subsidy effort

TO THE EDITOR:

I commend Governor Sununu for vetoing House Bill 142, relative to the Burgess Biopower Plant, and bringing cost relief to New Hampshire ratepayers.

After a year of record high electricity prices in New Hampshire, businesses can’t afford much more. The subsidies cost some Eversource commercial and industrial users hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. High energy costs reduce the ability of Granite State businesses to reinvest in their operations and workers and threatens their ability to compete nationally and internationally.

As an employer, I value economic growth and development, but through a market-driven approach. Mandating ratepayers to subsidize a generator is not the New Hampshire way, and it hasn’t worked. The biomass plant was estimated to have already received over $200 million in ratepayer-funded subsidies — an amount ratepayers will likely never see repaid.

Thanks to Governor Sununu, both residential and commercial ratepayers won’t have to foot the bill for this biomass plant any longer.

Andrew Curland
Franklin

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