Dear Mr. Volz/Mr. Bishop,
First off let me apologize for sending an email and not a formal letter. Lately, I have been out of
the office quite a bit and did not get a chance to draft a formal letter and submit it prior to the May
17 deadline for public comment. I am sure both of you have heard the rumors associated with
the size of the proposed Efficiency Vermont (EF) budget which is currently being discussed. I
have heard estimates ranging from $32 million to possibly even as high as $52 million. As the
Executive Director of Franklin County Industrial Development Corporation I am proud to say that I
was one of the first Regional Development Coordinators to use Efficiency Vermont as a tool to
recruit and retain industries to Franklin County. Please do not misunderstand me I believe
Efficiency Vermont provides a valuable service to the residents of Vermont, but I am concerned
that a substantial increase in their budget will have a negative impact on the Vermont
manufacturing sector. You have heard first hand from some of the manufacturers from Franklin
County as to the potential negative impact higher charges will have on their operations.
Last night I checked the Efficiency Charge on my CVPS electric bill and the amount was seventy
four cents; it has become difficult to buy a candy bar for .74 cents. I would be willing to bet that
their are thousands of Vermont residents who could afford to pay a little more on the residential
side if it would save or even create jobs. We have industries that currently pay in excess of
$60,000/yr in Efficiecy Charges, they cannot sustain another increase especially considering the
other escalating energy costs that they have been faced with over the last year. Corporate
America prefer to see a payback period of 24 months on a capital investment and many of the EF
recommended projects usually have a longer payback period thereby not acceptable to the
industry. I would suggest to the Public Service Board to think outside of the box and consider
opportunities for the larger companies to keep their Efficiency Charge dollars and use them to
pay down the debt service of major investments thereby substantially reducing the payback
period and saving even larger amounts of energy.
Additional costs are constantly being placed on the backs of our businesses i.e. health care,
efficiency charges, permitting, worker's comp. etc there will be a day and we have already seen it
for some companies when they can no longer take the excessive costs and then who will we turn
to. Please consider a fair budget for Efficiency Vermont, one that is fair to Vermont residents and
their employers. We do not need to approve a $32 million dollar budget, why not a cost of living
increase just like in the real world. Thank you for taking the time to listen to me.
Sincerely Tim Smith