Restructuring

On Friday, December 29, the final working day of 1995, Green Mountain Power became the first Vermont utility to file an industry restructuring plan with the Vermont Public Service Board. The Company's proposal, entitled The GMP Plan: A Vermont Initiative to Restructure the Electric Industry, divides traditional utility functions into two categories:

(1) Those that are most effectively provided in a geographic area by a single entity--like transmission and distribution--would remain regulated.

(2) Those that can be cost-effectively opened to competition--generation and the sale of electricity--would be governed by the forces of the marketplace.

With its restructuring initiative, GMP has established itself as a leader in the discussions that will bring customer choice to Vermont's electric consumers.

Vermont Governor Howard Dean has said that he wants the state's electric customers to be able to choose their suppliers beginning January 1, 1998. In order to meet that deadline:

• All of Vermont's utilities are required to file a restructuring plan with the Public Service Board by mid-year 1996.
• The Vermont Roundtable on Electric Competition a group made up of regulators, utilities, and environmental, consumer and business advocates must continue their discussions and offer a proposal for restructuring to the Vermont General Assembly for the 1997 legislative session.
• The General Assembly during its 1997 session would pass legislation opening the state to electric competition by January 1, 1998.

This timetable is ambitious, but we think it is feasible. At the same time, GMP believes that Vermont should open its doors to competition only if other states in the region open up at the same time. Otherwise, Vermont utilities would be at a disadvantage; their customers could be solicited by out-of-state utilities, while those outside utilities would continue to have protected, exclusive franchise territories at home.