Public Service of New Hampshire (PSNH) has responded to a recent challenge to the state-mandated installation of an emission reduction system at Merrimack Station in Bow.
The company said that the NH Public Utilities Commission (NHPUC) ruled correctly when it recently allowed the project to move forward. Work to prepare the site for major construction is scheduled to begin November 3rd. More than 300 unionized craft workers are expected be part of the peak construction period, scheduled to last three to four years.
PSNH's Clean Air Project includes the installation of scrubber technology, required by state law in order to significantly reduce mercury and sulfur dioxide emissions. Several commercial customers of PSNH, as well as an independent energy supplier, objected to the NHPUC ruling, citing the $457 million estimated cost of the project.
In its response, PSNH noted, the Legislature has mandated the project, following several years to study and public discussion. The NHPUC properly recognized that the agency does not have the authority to overturn that legislative decision.
Commercial customers, and all PSNH customers, have the legal right to purchase energy from an independent energy supplier, thus avoiding the PSNH energy charge, through which the costs of the project will be recovered, if they believe they can purchase energy for a lower cost from another supplier. (Today that energy charge is the lowest of any utility in New England, according to PSNH, and is expected to continue even when the cost of the Clean Air Project is included.)
PSNH says the motivation of the petitioning independent energy supplier, Transcanada, is suspect, in that a higher project cost would logically benefit rather than harm such a supplier. PSNH believes Transcanada is simply trying to facilitate the sale of its own higher-priced unregulated energy by threatening PSNH's continued ownership of low-cost regulated generation facilities.
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