Midpoints: Power struggles

These days, the Neponset Valley region is charged up over news about the cost of electric power, the location of power plants, and management of the utility that provides the basic necessities of safety, comfort, and light to life.  

The town of Walpole continues to struggle with electric power issues that will likely impact the town’s political and financial structure for some time. Inviting language in Walpole’s zoning by-laws and sites that are attractive to so-called noxious industries like trash transfer stations, propane gas farms and, most recently, power plants, make the town a target for undesirable development.

The town successfully fended off one power company’s bid to build a power plant in South Walpole only to have another make overtures to town officials, it was revealed last week. Until the language in the zoning by-laws is changed, Walpole is likely to receive more unwanted inquiries. An article on the fall Town Meeting warrant may remove the phrase allowing “any other lawful use” from Walpole’s zoning by-laws table of uses.

If that were not enough, Walpole has joined in another battle over regional electric power pricing that may also have ramifications for Norwood. Walpole is seeking to break the current Southeastern Massachusetts zone of the ISO-New England power grid into upper and lower zones so that towns that do not receive any service from the Cape Cod infrastructure are not forced to pay a hefty surcharge to subsidize the Cape’s inadequate power system.

Norwood could join six other municipally-owned light companies in a complaint against ISO-New England filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) charging that the regional grid’s members are being unjustly charged to ensure reliability on Cape Cod.

First, the town must resolve its dispute with Northeast Electric over an attempted surcharge to its agreed-upon contract with Norwood Light. When that contract lapses at the end of December, Norwood may join in the FERC complaint.

While these major power supply controversies surge through the region, a power struggle of a different sort is throwing off sparks in Norwood. The Board of Selectmen recently voted to send the town’s Finance Commission a letter telling them that the FinCom is not entitled to view the Norwood Municipal Light’s monthly financial statements as the commission that oversees the town’s finances has requested.

The Selectmen contend that, in their capacity as Light Commissioners, they are the ones who should oversee the operation of the electric light department and that the light department should not be issuing reports directly to the FinCom.

The FinCom, however, says that the town’s bylaws make it clear that they have a right to request that information to fulfill the commission’s budgetary and fiscal projection responsibilities, and that they need the monthly reports to make sure that the light department is making its numbers.

The selectmen admit that the light department needs better oversight and have formed a subcommittee to focus specifically on Norwood Light’s finances. In agreeing that they should monitor the light department’s progress better than they have been, the selectmen demonstrate that the FinCom is not only justified in requesting monthly reports, but that they should be recognized for their vigilance in carefully overseeing the town’s finances.

After all, it isn’t about who has the power, but about who is acting in the best interests of the town. Whether it’s through the Board of Selectmen or directly from the light department, the FinCom should receive the monthly numbers they need to do the job they’ve been charged to do. And if this skirmish results in the Light Commissioners focusing more attention on the day-to-day management of the light department, that, too, is a positive result.

Norwood resident Candace Leary’s Midpoints column appears Mondays in the Transcript.