SB447

I OPPOSE SB599-FN. The funds in the REF should be spent for their original purpose. Emptying the REF of most of its funds would not move NH in a positive direction. I urge you to OPPOSE it.

SB447 permits monopolistic advantages for utility companies, harming business opportunities for others and raising utility prices for all of us.

We support the community/municipal solar and net metering aspects of this legislation, as they facilitate increasingly cost-effective and community-based power alternatives, but we strongly oppose the inclusion of "advanced" nuclear power provisions in this and related legislation. This green light for "Advanced nuclear" is premature, since none of these technologies have moved off the drawing boards or gone beyond the still-to-be-built pilot-project stage. Economically, these technologies are highly uncertain at this point and early projects do not have a positive track record. And of course our state has a similarly poor track record - short of a massive consumer bail-out in the form of "stranded costs" charges - when it came to the construction and deployment of "existing" nuclear technology. For these reasons and others, we would suggest holding off on enabling or investing in new nuclear technologies until they have had some actual operating experience and proof of practicality. To do otherwise would expose future electric ratepayers to greater rather than lesser financial uncertainty in purchasing affordable future electricity, and we should not go down that road once again.