InDepthNH.org (https://indepthnh.org/series/power-to-the-people/page/3)
D. Maurice KreisPower to the People is a new column by D. Maurice Kreis, New Hampshire’s Consumer Advocate. Kreis and his staff of four represent the interests of residential utility customers before the NH Public Utilities Commission and elsewhere.
In fact, as the state’s ratepayer advocate I find it downright refreshing that our state’s chief executive is willing to state forthrightly that it is time to stop infinitely funding public policy initiatives, even virtuous ones, via the electric bills paid by Granite Staters.
Don Kreis of Concord and his daughter Rose Keller make a formidable team. Whether as guests on a podcast or fighting the battle against Cystic Fibrosis.
Lewis Strauss famously proclaimed, in a 1954 speech, that — thanks to nuclear power — electricity would become “too cheap to meter.”
People tend to assume that I was an opponent of Northern Pass, Eversource’s ill-fated transmission project that died an ignominious death nearly four years ago. But it ain’t necessarily so.
Electricity is really important – it’s an essential commodity these days, and it has grown notably expensive over the past couple of years. Ergo, the annual election at the Electric Co-op is important.
It is not because of my fondness for my late grandmother’s chopped herring, though Marcel Proust would surely appreciate how vividly the memory lingers of that particular sweet and sour delight.
Remember the time a famous architect secretly designed a public housing project, and then blew the place up because the complex was not built to his specifications?
All of these activities require flaggers who can direct traffic so the utility workers can do their pruning and digging. The objective is to keep the utility workers, and those passing by, as safe as possible.
As New Hampshire emerges from a long winter of ratepayer discontent, the hunt for blameworthy characters continues. Here are some nominations.
I’m sorry if that sounds insulting to the many people with whom I am in regular contact at the state’s regulated electric, gas, and water utilities.