By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD – Democrats held a video press conference Thursday to outline Republican policies and appointees who they say are not doing the ratepayers any favors, like the PUC chair whose term is in holdover status with the governor enraged over recent Eversource rate hike.
Daniel Goldner’s four-year term ended the first of July.
Democrats charge that Goldner is a political appointee with no background who seems to have a bias against renewable projects at a time when New Hampshire residents will soon pay much higher electric bills and that because of Republican policies like Ayotte’s, the state is way behind others in terms of renewable energy generation.
Ayotte has not said whether she will renominate Goldner, who was a Chris Sununu appointee in 2021. But she has criticized the PUC’s rate hike for Eversource which serves about 70 percent of the state’s customers.
It comes at a time of record costs for consumers.
Democrats criticized Republicans for what they characterized as their failed energy policy leadership Thursday.
State Sen. David Watters, D-Dover, who has been a long-time member of the Senate Energy Resources Committee, was joined in a press conference on Zoom by state Rep. Kat McGhee, D-Hollis, and Brittni Widdick, parent and co-founder of 50501-NH. And they took partisan aim at Republicans on energy policy, or a lack thereof, which has the state behind others in terms of renewable energy programs.
They zeroed in on a recent rate hike approved by the Public Utilities Commission.
Goldner of Manchester, who was confirmed in 2021 during the administration of Gov. Chris Sununu, faced questions about his lack of experience at an Executive Council confirmation hearing.
Former Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington of Concord, the lone Democrat on the five-member council at the time, expressed concern about Goldner’s lack of “relevant knowledge” and experience for joining the PUC.
Goldner is a mechanical engineer who worked for 32 years for Texas Instruments and as a resident of Manchester, ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for a District 8 Hillsborough seat in 2020. Incumbents Jeffrey Goley, a Democrat, and Diane Langley won the two seats.
Since he has been at the PUC he has thwarted efforts to get more of a renewable portfolio for the state, Watters said, and McGhee said he got the job just because he lost a state Representative election.
“At the direction of Kelly Ayotte’s PUC Chair, the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission is raising base electric bills — charging Granite Staters a higher fee for electricity whether they use it or not. Granite Staters will now pay the highest minimum electricity rates in the nation. On top of skyrocketing housing costs and a lack of affordable child care, Granite Staters will now pay more just to keep the lights on,” the news release about the press conference said.
Watters said this is part of a larger Republican agenda and the reason why other states in the region are further along in terms of renewable energy policy.
“There are choices we could make,” if there were others crafting policies, Watters said.
Goldner, he said, has gone against renewable energy repeatedly.
He said Gov. Ayotte could make a difference. Ayotte has said she is not pleased with the recent rate increase approved for Eversource, the state’s largest utility.
State Rep. McGhee said Goldner had no energy experience and no utility experience and is “strident” in his ideological view.
“We should at least have somebody who is qualified,” she said.
An email to Goldner for a response to McGhee’s comment was not immediately returned.
Watters said New Hampshire has only 1 percent of its power from solar while some states have 20 percent.
The problem is leadership, he charged.
“We could save money right now for New Hampshire families with battery storage, with net metered expansion and especially energy efficiency for lower income folks,” Watters said. “This would mean cost cutting now if we had leadership from Governor Ayotte and from the Republican legislature.”
Ayotte spoke out in opposition to the PUC’s recent rate hike decision https://indepthnh.org/2025/07/28/ayotte-criticizes-utility-regulators-decision-on-eversource-rates/
“I’m extremely disappointed in the recent decision by the Public Utilities Commission,” Ayotte said in a statement. “We should be ensuring the regulatory process is transparent, accountable, and protects Granite Staters from rate hikes.”
The Public Utilities Commission’s order this summer increases costs for energy, distribution and fixed base assessments, and establishes a new method to set electric rates using a formula based on the cost of living instead of its long-standing cost-of-services process. It also allows automatic yearly rate increases.
Past rate cases were determined by what the utility companies presented as actual operating and capital costs over the last six months as well as unique costs such as storm damage or recouping the loss of customers leaving the utility for aggregate organizations like regional electrical cooperatives, and then determine if the company’s spending was “prudent.”
The new system approved in the order setting the new electric rates for Eversource customers instead is tied to the rate of inflation and a 1.42 percent productivity factor, according to state regulators.
“This alternative regulation approach implements the axiom of simplicity by combining many components previously handled in numerous and complex Commission proceedings with a single revenue requirement adjusted annually, with only stranded costs, a temporary annual recovery mechanism, and major storm recovery outside of the Distribution Revenue Requirement,” the commissioners wrote in the order, noting they rejected the utility’s more complicated formula to set rates.
The order sets the monthly charge beginning Aug. 1 at $19.81. The order allows the monthly charge to increase each year by $2 for five years which will bring it close to $30 a month at that time.
Eversource estimated its fixed cost charge was over $40 a month.
Ayotte said she will continue to work to bring electric costs under control.
“I will continue working with the Legislature to promote an all-of-the-above energy strategy so we can expand options for consumers and lower energy costs for working families,” Ayotte said.
She also criticized the shift of greater distribution costs to residential customers and the rate of return on equity Eversource will receive.