Mountain Times - Volume 48, Number 24: June 12-18, 2019

The Mountain Times • June 12-18, 2019 STATE NEWS • 7
Ski season:
GMP requests
rate increase
Season recap
continued from page 1
“There was way more coverage than we normally have
for our last day,” said Courtney Fiore, communications
manager for Killington and Pico resorts. “You didn’t have
to take off your skis or boards to get on or off the lift.”
Skiing’s a critical piece of Vermont’s tourism economy.
Tourism generates more than $1 billion in wages and
$391 million in taxes per year, according to the Scott
administration – the largest sector of the economy after
manufacturing.
Vermont resorts report that about 80 percent of their
ticket buyers are visiting from out of state. Southern
Vermont areas such as Stratton and Mount Snow tend to
draw heavily from Boston, New York, and Connecticut;
Jay Peak near the northern border sees a lot of skiers from
Quebec.
The winter started off with a record-breaking snowfall
of nearly 33 inches in November, according to meteorologist
Roger Hill. The next highest snowfall total for November
was back in 1900, with 24 inches. The average snowfall
in November is 6 inches. Temperatures in November were
also 5 degrees cooler than normal.
The early season wintry conditions got people in the
mood for skiing, said Win Smith, who owns Sugarbush.
“It set the tone for the season,” Smith said Monday. “Cold,
early snowmaking temperatures and no major thaw also
made for good conditions throughout the season.”
Nature cooperated further by dumping more than 2
feet during the Martin Luther King Day weekend, and 14
inches in time for Presidents Day week.
“A combination of this snowfall, ever-efficient snowmaking
and no significant periods of warm weather
resulted in very consistent coverage and a higher
percentage of terrain open across the state throughout
the season,” the Vermont Ski Areas Association said in a
statement.
Green Mountain Power filed a request
with the Public Utility Commission (PUC)
to increase rates each year for the next three
years by 2.92 percent starting Oct.1, 2019.
This is part of the company’s new multiyear
regulation plan. The plan, approved
by regulators last month after a yearlong
public process, gives GMP customers predictable,
smoother rates that nearly match
inflation and are comparable in Vermont
and among the lowest in New England.
“We are committed to providing clean,
cost-effective, reliable power to all of our
customers in this time of energy transformation
and innovation needed to address
climate change,” said GMP President and
CEO Mary Powell. “Our team is working
tirelessly to hold rates low for customers,
as we also continue to offer the latest in innovations
such as battery storage that help
to drive down costs and provide benefits to
all customers.” Many of these innovations,
already being put to use for our customers,
are responsible for GMP achieving a multiyear
rate path that helps maintain such low
and stable rates.
The request, subject to PUC review and
approval, follows GMP’s recently approved
multi-year regulation plan, which is a
framework designed to provide stability for
customers around energy costs for the next
three years. Here’s how it works: the PUC essentially
requires GMP to forecast then lock
in most of its own operational and capital
costs and provides for rate variation or
change based upon power supply, storms
and some other individual cost categories
specifically approved by the Commission.
In the second and third year, GMP will go
back before regulators to adjust rates if
needed based on these specific variable
items while maintaining the discipline to
operate within many locked costs. GMP
will also report results over dozens of innovation
and operations metrics to ensure
it maintains high performance for customers.
The plan also supports GMP’s ability
to leverage innovation to lower costs and
carbon emissions for all customers.
“We’ve been thrilling families yearround
for decades with both skiing and
riding and summer adventures at Bromley,
and having steady predictability in our energy
costs will allow us to better plan how to
invest in our company over the next several
years,” said Bill Cairns, general manager of
Bromley Mountain Resort, which wins accolades
for its family vacations. “GMP has
been a great partner and understands our
business needs. We appreciate their efforts
to keep costs down for customers because
energy costs are a big factor for a company
like ours.”
GMP, page 39
State to receive $1.75 million
from Dollar General for
deceptive pricing
Attorney General T.J. Donovan announced
today that his office has reached
a $1.75 million settlement with DG Retail,
LLC, also known as Dollar General, for violations
of Vermont’s Consumer Protection
Act. Under the settlement, Dollar General
resolved claims that it rang up products
at a higher price than advertised on the
shelf, even after being told at least 50 times
by state inspectors from the Agency of
Agriculture, Food and Markets to correct
the pricing inaccuracies. The Vermont
Foodbank will receive $100,000 pursuant
to the settlement.
“Deceptive advertising will not be
tolerated,” Attorney General Donovan
said. “Knowing that Dollar General
caters to low-income Vermonters makes
their repeatedly misrepresenting prices
particularly egregious. I’m pleased that
part of this settlement will directly benefit
those Vermonters who struggle with food
insecurity.”
Dollar General operates 36 retail stores
across all 14 counties in Vermont. Dollar
General stores sell a wide variety of groceries
and household products. Pursuant to
Vermont’s weights and measures laws,
inspectors from the Agency of Agriculture
routinely visit Dollar General stores
to ensure that the shelf prices match the
prices charged at the register. At any given
inspection, inspectors randomly check the
shelf prices of 50-100 products and compare
them to the register prices. If the price
charged at the register exceeds the shelf
price, it is known as an “overcharge error.”
Since October 2013, inspectors have found
362 overcharge errors at 22 different Dollar
General stores. Of the 362 overcharge
errors, the price charged at the register
exceeded the shelf price by an amount
ranging from $.02 to $6 per item, with a
median overcharge amount of $.35.
“Consumer protection is part of our
mission at the Agency of Agriculture, Food
and Markets,” said Secretary of Agriculture
Anson Tebbetts. “When someone shops at
a store they should be assured they are getting
what they paid for. The Agency’s scanner
inspection program provides integrity
at the check-out line.”
Under the terms of the settlement, in
addition to the $1.75 million payment,
Dollar General is required to implement a
pricing accuracy policy to ensure that Vermonters
are charged the price reflected on
a product. Dollar General will also conduct
pricing audits to ensure that their products
are priced accurately.
Since 2013, Dollar General has paid at
least $241,700 in penalties to the Agency of
Agriculture, Food and Markets.