….and an op-ed by former U.S. Senate nominee Lawrence Zupan on zealots tearing down statues

by Guy Page

July 7, 2020 – Seven Vermont employers received between $5 million and $10 million under the federal Paycheck Protection Program, enacted to help businesses meet payroll during the pandemic. These seven are: Bennington College Corporation, Copley Hospital, GW Plastics, Itech US, Momentum Manufacturing Group, PC Construction, and Vermont Energy Investment Corp (VEIC).

VEIC is a not-for-profit organization that oversees Efficiency Vermont, Vermont’s ‘energy efficiency utility.’ Efficiency Vermont is funded in large part by a surcharge on electricity ratepayers’ monthly bills. During the height of the pandemic electricity sales were low and many bills were paid late or not at all. Some utilities suspended collection of unpaid power bills.

According to the VEIC website, after its 1986 founding “VEIC floated the idea that energy efficiency should be a matter of state law, with a single energy efficiency administrator regulated like the electric utilities. In 1999, the Vermont General Assembly created the nation’s first statewide, regulated “energy efficiency utility,” Efficiency Vermont. VEIC bid for and won the contract. We continue to administer the award-winning utility to this day.”

According to figures released Monday by the Small Business Administration, 57 Vermont employers received between $2 million and $5 million. 104 received between $1 million and $2 million. The remainder received under $1 million.

According to an article posted on Vermontbiz.com, “between the large and small loans which totaled 11,929 companies, Vermont received $1,187,439,086. Total jobs retained were 113,838. The small loans were itemized but the companies were not named. The large loans were not itemized but company names were provided.”

For a complete listing of all Vermont Paycheck Protection recipients, click here.

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Corrections: at the governor’s press conference yesterday, Joan Goldstein responded to a County Courier question about a $150 million economic aid package. Both the name and the dollar amount were incorrect in yesterday’s post. The same post said Vermont colleges’ first semester would end in Thanksgiving; it should have said ‘by Thanksgiving,’ although no doubt for some students the original preposition also was correct.