HARDWICK – Hardwick Electric Department (HED) Commissioners met last Tuesday, June 16, agreeing to purchase shares of stock in the Vermont transmission utility, reviewing finances, hearing about the development of plans for future infrastructure upgrades and the status of the utility’s dams.
Commissioner Roger Prevot was attending his final meeting as a commissioner and his many years of service were noted with appreciation by the other commissioners.
The 2025 fiscal year and 2026 budget development were reviewed, with Controller Renae DiGregorio saying it’s an opportunity to look at factors that contributed to variances from the FY25 approved budget.
The FY 2025 budget anticipated a total cost of service, including power supply costs, of $9,061,990 and projected year-end net income of $813,000. The actual results show a $9,718,384 cost of service, with a year-end operating deficit of $541,480.
She said the difference was driven by higher power supply costs, environmental soil testing, crew labor costs, vegetation clearing and safety training, which all contribute to the deficit.
Operating revenue exceeded budgeted projections by $193,711 and non-operating expenses were 15% below budgeted projections.
The FY25 budget anticipated FEMA reimbursements of $1.5M, but actual revenue was only $583,445, creating a significant budget variance, said DiGregorio
She said she expects to have the final FY26 budget presentation for the next board meeting.
Commissioners learned Vermont Public Power Supply Authority (VPPSA) will be holding an inaugural meeting for all member trustees and commissioners later in the summer and offered suggestions on when is a good time. The event is an opportunity to get together and hear about the latest developments in the industry.
Commissioner Jake Lester said he is interested in learning more about the Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping system and capabilities.
DiGregorio reported April net income at month end was $41,397.60, with nothing significant or unusual to report. Customer work activity continued to increase. Power costs for April were $377,505.31, slightly below budget projections.
Operating revenue is still exceeding budgeted projections due to the pending rate case, she said. It is expected to level out once the rate case has concluded.
Johnstone reported he is still working on the formal review of two D&K Hydro contracts for a survey of the Wolcott dam and repair of its penstock. He expects to have them on the July meeting agenda for action.
Both the penstock and generation house projects have been classified as “large” projects by FEMA and the review and approval process seems to have leapt forward, he said. Perhaps within the next couple months final awards will be approved for these mitigation projects and work can begin on the hydro dam repairs.
Other dams came up too, with the Nichols Pond Association reaching out to engage with HED on the future of the dam at that location. Johnstone said he will keep in touch with them.
East Long Pond residents have just formed an association that has reached out to engage in the future of the dam there as well, he said.
The Hardwick Select Board recently approved moving forward with further study of a potential Jackson Dam removal. Johnstone said that work would include downstream hydrological assessment and modeling, which is vitally important prior to selecting a path forward.
The State of Vermont has asked for three test pits to be dug at the Hardwick Electric Road shop as a follow up to work to clean up PCBs that were found on the site in the 1980s, said Johnstone, who added the work should occur in the coming month.
Johnstone has been working on a report to identify deficiencies and future needs of the HED distribution grid and expects to have it ready for review at either the July or August meeting.
He said the system will require significant investments in the coming 10 to 15 years, with a “pretty massive project” that will span the coming five to seven years that will involve rebuilding the Hardwick substation, adding regulators at the Wolcott substation and updating the poles and lines between the two substations.
Johnstone addressed the emergency outage that occurred Monday afternoon and evening, June 15, saying he understands this emergency outage came at the worst possible time of the day, but it was a decision that had to be made, and the repair needed to happen immediately.
He explained that one of the regulators at the Hardwick substation failed.
As soon as the utility became aware of the situation, both crew and staff began investigating to determine what the issue was. Green Mountain Power arrived with replacement equipment quickly and assisted the HED crew with replacing the regulator at the substation.
Johnstone explained the incident highlights the need to make the investment for a more reliable system to avoid future outages.
DiGregorio added that she has engaged with a new outage alert communication platform and HED will commit to a tool within the next month to notify customers about outages.
Paul Fixx is editor of The Hardwick Gazette and lives in Hardwick.
