[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Page 21385]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                         VERMONT ELECTRIC RATES

  Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, today, plaintiffs from my home State of 
Vermont made opening arguments in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 
District of Columbia. The plaintiffs, representing the New England 
Council for Energy Efficiency and the Environment, have raised serious 
questions about the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's decision in 
1997 to grant power marketer status to a subsidiary of the Canadian 
company Hydro-Quebec.
  The Council is protesting that Hydro-Quebec was unlawfully granted 
the ability to buy and sell power in the U.S. without regulatory 
oversight. According to expert testimony in that case, Hydro-Quebec 
already exercises too much control over Northeastern energy markets, 
and Vermont ratepayers will have to pay higher energy bills if this 
license is upheld.
  Hydro-Quebec's ability and willingness to exert undue influence on 
electricity markets in the United States is of serious concern. The 
company's request last month that the Canadian government sue the 
United States over fair trade practices is a clear infringement of the 
legitimate rights of Vermonters to set Vermont electric rates. The 
Vermont Public Service Board sets rates equally for all companies, be 
they foreign or domestic, yet Hydro-Quebec is using its status as a 
semi-governmental foreign company in an attempt to control these rates.
  It is deeply ironic that Hydro-Quebec, a monopoly protected by Quebec 
law against all retail and virtually all wholesale competition in 
Quebec, should utilize principles of ``fair trade'' to lodge a 
complaint against the United States under NAFTA. Entrepreneurs in New 
England and New York who want to compete in Quebec are prohibited from 
doing so, thus precluding meaningful international competition in 
energy. Yet Hydro-Quebec is able to freely sell its energy in the U.S.
  I call upon Hydro-Quebec to come out from behind its monopolistic 
shield and act like a true competitive utility. Drop your NAFTA 
lawsuit. End your efforts to undermine Vermont law. Stop using 
international law to threaten Vermont ratepayers. We want to do 
business with Hydro-Quebec, but we cannot do so while it tries to exert 
undue influence in Vermont and New England markets. In Vermont, the 
Public Service Board sets electric rates, not foreign companies. We 
will never, ever let a foreign entity write our rules on power sales.
  I further call upon the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to 
thoroughly examine all means by which a foreign utility may exert 
influence in the United States. Foreign companies should not be given 
carte blanche to sell energy in the U.S. until all impacts of that 
decision are considered--not only market share, but also environmental 
impacts and means outside of the market by which a foreign company may 
exert influence. Hydro-Quebec is taking advantage of its enormous size 
and semi-governmental status to gouge ratepayers in Vermont. This issue 
is of enormous importance to the people of Vermont, and I hope the 
Commission will thoroughly examine all of these issues.
  Mr. President, I will do all in my power to protect Vermont electric 
ratepayers from unnecessary manipulation and threats. I am carefully 
reviewing the law related to wholesale and retail power sales and will 
be sure to work for a revision of this law if we see that a region of 
this nation, or a particular state, is being treated unfairly.

                          ____________________