HARDWICK – As Hardwick Electric Department (HED) ratepayers received a notice with their June bills telling them the department has filed an Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), the state’s Public Utility Commission (PUC) has opened an investigation into the utility’s proposed 13.24% rate increase.
source: HED 2025 IRP
On May 29, the Vermont Public Utility Commission ordered an investigation to determine whether the 13.24% rate change proposed by HED on April 16 is just and reasonable. The order came in response to a May 16 recommendation by the Vermont Department of Public Service (DPS) that an investigation be opened. The DPS represents ratepayers in cases before the state’s Public Utility Commission (PUC), which is responsible for regulating electric utilities.
June 10 was set as the date of a scheduling conference.
HED and the DPS jointly submitted a proposed schedule, which, if accepted by the PUC, will have a public hearing being held on the case the week of July 21. After that, various rounds of discovery, testimony and responses will lead to a hearing on the evidence the week of February 9, 2026. The timeline after that is less well-defined with the date of a final decision by the PUC unknown.
Customers will begin to see the new rates with their July bills since HED will be allowed to apply the new rates “provided that the utility ‘refund revenues collected in excess of those which are finally determined to be just and reasonable.’” Given the proposed timeline, it could be close to a year before a decision is made. Excess charges would then be refunded if less than the full increase is approved.
The IRP, of which ratepayers received notice this month, must be filed at least every three years, but HED received an extension in August 2024, giving it until May 1, 2025, almost a year beyond the July 6, 2024 date it was first due.
The extension was granted because the HED general manager had recently resigned and Vermont Public Power Supply staff were filing a number of other rate cases in that same timeframe. The DPS supported the request, with the PUC finding there was good cause for the extension.
HED says its IRP identifies strategies and tactics to meet current and future energy services needs; that it takes into account environmental and economic costs outlining its approach to strategic investments in energy resources while improving transmission and distribution capacity, through grid system efficiencies and demand-side efficiency programs.
The IRP indicates HED continues to observe and forecast flat demand increases with perhaps modest long-term growth. The reduction of demand through solar net metering will likely be offset as funding programs expand to further incentivize the transition from fossil fuels to cleaner electricity, and increase the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) and cold climate heat pumps (CCHPs) among other electrification technologies.
The IRP suggests the Pottersville Dam aka Wolcott hydroelectric generating station, is likely to be offline until 2026 or 2027 due to repairs needed as a result of 2023 ans 2024 flood damage. It notes that 6% of HEDs annual needs is now being met by the H11 solar project on Billings Road in Hardwick.
Also of note in the IRP is that HED is working with VPPSA and its sister utilities to design, develop and implement Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) by developing a technology road map to guide technology requirements and implementation planning to achieve broader system visibility and asset monitoring. HED says it sees potential value to its customers from utilizing rate design along with other incentives or load control programs as tools to manage both system and customer peak loads.
Ratepayers have until July 21 to request a hearing, or otherwise intervene on the 197 page IRP, which can be viewed at the PUC’s electronic filing and case management system, “ePUC,” at https://epuc.vermont.gov/. Search by Case Number 25-0853-PET.
Comments may be made at any time through ePUC to the case number above, by email to [email protected], or by mail to: 112 State Street, 4th Floor, Montpelier, VT 056202701. Referencing the case number.
Paul Fixx is editor of The Hardwick Gazette and lives in Hardwick.
