PRESS RELEASE<\/p>\n
For Immediate Release: November 19, 2014<\/p>\n
CAPE LIGHT COMPACT RESPONDS TO ATTORNEY GENERAL<\/strong><\/p>\n Barnstable, MA – The Cape Light Compact\u2019s update to its Aggregation Plan was expected to be a straightforward review of modest changes and updates by the Department of Public Utilities (\u201cDPU\u201d). Instead, it has turned into an expensive and adversarial eight month proceeding due to a series of filings by the Attorney General\u2019s office. The Attorney General has attempted to use the proceeding to expand its own authority over municipal aggregators, and to retry issues it has lost in other proceedings. The DPU has consistently rejected the Attorney General\u2019s motions and arguments.<\/p>\n \u201cThe DPU has regulatory authority over municipal aggregation plans,\u201d said Margaret Downey, the Compact\u2019s Administrator. \u201cIt is really unfortunate that the Attorney General\u2019s office has been on this mission to challenge the DPU\u2019s decisions in an attempt to expand the Attorney General\u2019s own authority beyond that set out for it by statute. We have attempted to cooperate with the Attorney General outside of the proceeding and her office has never responded to the Compact Board\u2019s invitation for a discussion. As part of the Compact\u2019s commitment to transparency, we provided all of the information they were requesting in the proceeding which the DPU expressly ruled was not part of the scope of the proceeding. We sent it directly to the Attorney General, and still received no response to our requests to meet or talk.\u201d<\/p>\n In the initial brief in the proceeding filed on November 12th, the Attorney General criticizes the DPU and once again focuses on re-hashing the same arguments the DPU has already rejected multiple times. One of the core claims is that the operational \u201cadder\u201d the Compact charges (one tenth of one cent per kilowatt hour) is an \u201cillegal tax.\u201d However this charge was approved in the original Aggregation Plan to which the Attorney General was a party, and has been included in every power supply contract submitted to the DPU for the past ten years. No other Attorney General has questioned this. The charge is part of an electric rate rather than a \u201ctax\u201d or \u201cfee\u201d subject to a different legal standard under the so-called \u201cEmerson College\u201d case test. A brief filed by the Compact on November 19th rejects this and other arguments made in the Attorney General\u2019s initial brief.<\/p>\n The latest filing from the Attorney General also raises other issues concerning the Compact that are clearly erroneous.<\/p>\n o The Attorney General claims that the Compact never submitted the revisions to the Aggregation Plan to the Towns (page #6 of AGO brief). This is false. The Compact Administrator submitted the revised Aggregation Plan to each Compact member Town and County on December 17, 2013 with a memo summarizing the proposed revisions.<\/p>\n o The Attorney General claims that the Compact\u2019s \u201cadvocacy before the Department [of Public Utilities]\u201d was not included in the Compact\u2019s existing approved Aggregation Plan (page #40 of AGO brief). This is not correct. Professional representation at state proceedings is listed on the first page of the Compact\u2019s existing Aggregation Plan and restated again as one of the three programs of the Compact( Section 2.3, page #8 of the existing Aggregation Plan).<\/p>\n o The Attorney General claims that the Compact\u2019s operational\/mil adder is a new addition to the revised Aggregation Plan and was not included in the Compact\u2019s existing Aggregation Plan. That is not correct. The Compact\u2019s mil adder is referenced in both sections 3.0 and 6.2 of the existing Aggregation Plan. The revised Plan simply changes the name of the mil adder to operational adder, as the term \u201coperational adder\u201d is a more accurate description.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately,\u201d Downey says, \u201cthe Compact is forced to respond once again to these and other misguided claims.\u201d She is hoping that the outstanding matters are resolved soon, so that the Compact can continue serving the ratepayers of Cape Cod and Martha\u2019s Vineyard.<\/p>\n ABOUT CAPE LIGHT COMPACT<\/p>\n Cape Light Compact is an award-winning energy services organization operated by the 21 towns and two counties on Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard. The Compact’s mission is to serve its 200,000 customers through the delivery of proven energy efficiency programs, effective consumer advocacy, competitive electricity supply and green power options. For more information, visit www.capelightcompact.org.<\/p>\n ###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-4534","press-release","type-press-release","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n