by Don Keelan
My Green Mountain Power monthly statement arrived, with it, an announcement, in small print, of an increase beginning January 1st.
GMP will collect 2.5% more each month for the billing charge that GMP sends to Efficiency Vermont. My tiny office building will see a more significant increase of 3.6%. While not surprised at the increase, I am puzzled why Efficiency Vermont even needs more funds sent their way.
However, after reviewing the nonprofit’s latest Form 990 annual tax filing for FY2022, I can see why more funds need to be sent. I should point out, for accuracy, that the funds go to the fiscal agent and the trustee who operate EV, known as Vermont Energy Investment Corporation.
Having a few facts about this 38-year-old creature of the Vermont Legislature, which the Vermont Public Utilities Commission oversees is helpful. I would love to know how much effort VPUC expends into its role.
The nonprofit closed 2022 (latest year data is available) with total revenues of $108,745, 667. It did so with an employment complement of 381 and a board of trustees of 11 members.
While most of us might think of Efficiency Vermont and its parent company, VEIC, as strictly doing business in Vermont, that is not the case. This organization has grown, and out-of-state consulting garnered $8,461,000 of its revenue.
VEIC commented on its tax return: “ VEIC provides national and international consulting services to utilities, businesses, government agencies, municipalities, and foundations. In 2022, VEIC’s consulting services spanned more than 24 states and provinces.” I should mention this includes Hawaii and California. Just how does the Vermont PUC oversee all of this?
Staying with the facts for a moment: if one had to choose to work as an executive with the State of Vermont or VEIC, make it the latter. Here’s why: based on 2022 Form 990 data.
The compensation of the CEO of VEIC was $277,440. The Governor of Vermont receives $208,977. Better yet, take the position at VEIC of Chief People Officer at $200,988. The Vermont Commissioner of Corrections earns approximately $140,000 and is responsible for over 7,000 folks. The managing director of VEIC’s Washington DC operation received $323,414 for working seven months through July. It turns out that an additional severance payment of $175,000 was paid to the director that year.
Other State leaders, the State Auditor, and the Secretary of State had the same compensation of approximately $132,500. Our elected representatives get to set these rates of compensation. Who gets to set those at Efficiency Vermont, considering most of its funding, approximately $95 million, is extracted from anyone who has to pay an electric bill?
However, there were two other expense disbursements that I found intriguing. The $159,000 goes to in-house legal counsel, while the Vermont Attorney General receives $158,562 annually.
Then, $95,000 was paid to the Necrason Group, one of Montpelier’s most influential lobbying firms. Why would EV ever need to do so much lobbying?
Over the years, I have written about EV. It is not because I have an ax to grind with their operation. It is because they are the poster child of unregulated Vermont: the extensive use of the myriad of Vermont nonprofits that operate as giant financial conduits. The conduit applies to simple operations such as Meals on Wheels, housing, mental health, etc.
Back to EV. Almost 50% of its $106 million expenses are overhead and independent contractors ($3,871,000.) The organization is going international; it now has one employee (per the 2022 Form 990) in the United Kingdom who received approximately $95,000.
Efficiency Vermont is not different than most Vermont nonprofits that are, in effect, quasi-state agencies. They have substantial mission creep. If a survey of Vermonters was to be conducted with one question–what is the purpose of EV, the answer would be “How to better insulate, install draft-free windows, and set up a more efficient heating system in my home and business.” That might have been the mission 38 years ago, but not today.
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Categories: Commentary, Environment, State Government
It’s funny that the concept of a non-profit is not to profit from it’s mission…
“The nonprofit closed 2022 (latest year data is available) with total revenues of $108,745, 667” which is only half the statement, the other half is “of which it distributed to whomever it felt like”.
These non-profit’s are doing exactly what they are designed to do, make sure you are “non-profitable”.
a mafia in plain site/// no need to hide in vermont/// protected by your government/// bribes/// payoffs/// campaign donations/// paid adds for media cover up///
So lobbing and government shenanigans attracts a lot of our money being used in a plethora of schemes for which we’ve never generated any consensus. Ain’t life great?
EV smelled 38 years ago and it still smells. The legislature needs to stop funding this boondoggle immediately!
It sounds more like it’s ” Inefficiency Vermont ” if they ask for an increase than the legislators will allow, for taxpayers TS for you …………………………..
Re: “VEIC provides national and international consulting services to utilities, businesses,…”
I think this is a typo. Should be VCIC.
It’s all about jobs. As progressive policies drive typical free market businesses out of Vermont, something has to make up the difference. I’ve always pointed out that the Vermont businesses with the highest growth are the tax subsidized health, education, and government sectors. Again, nearly 40% of the Vermont workforce is employed in these sectors and they are by far the areas in which job growth is highest. And close analysis of the Trade, Transportation, and Utilities sector monitored by the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that the Utilities sub-sector is another area with increasing job growth – Trade and Transportation not so much.
Add to that the Public Utilities Commission. One of the most influential commissioners is Margaret Cheney. Keep in mind that Ms. Cheney had virtually no experience (let alone expertise) in energy-related business when she was appointed. She was a magazine feature writer for a couple of progressive magazines and did some part-time teaching in a local public school. Why was she appointed? Her husband is Vermont’s esteemed Senator, Peter Welch, and member of various energy committees.
Is that a problem? Well, in 2018, despite the claim that “Welch and Cheney maintain that neither was involved in the other’s dealings with T-Mobile… they say a strict firewall separates their respective careers”, “Cheney signed permits for three T-Mobile cell towers in Chittenden County. Five days later, the company’s political action committee spent $500 hosting Cheney’s husband, Congressman Peter Welch (D-Vt.), at a campaign fundraiser.”
https://www.sevendaysvt.com/OffMessage/archives/2018/04/19/welch-takes-campaign-cash-from-telecom-regulated-by-cheney
And that wasn’t the first time Welch has raised money from a company his wife is responsible for regulating.
“In July 2016, the Associated Press reported that Welch had received $8,000 from Comcast’s PAC. At the time, Cheney’s commission was considering a new license for the company to continue operating in Vermont.”
So, back to Efficiency Vermont, not to mention the Vermont Public Interest Research Group (VPIRG), mentioned yesterday in a Rob Roper commentary. While all States rank poorly in the conflict-of-interest category, Vermont ranked 37th out of 50 States. And that was almost ten years ago. Since then, in 2017, Gov. Scott created an ‘ethics commission’. How’s that working these days.
Again, it’s all about the money. When central government controls the cash flow, corruption and abuse are a certainty. Until we, as an electorate, figure this out, expect more of the same until bankruptcy occurs.
As I remember things 40+ years ago, Vermont’s electrical utilities ( then GMP, CVPS and others) were legislatively tasked with energy efficiency programs. This mandate was a result of the second “energy crisis” of 1979-1980. There were all sorts of programs and gimmicks to promote “efficiency”- some worked some did not. The legislature later saw the revenue generated and wanted a piece of the action for the state- and here we are, 40 years later paying for something we don’t get much of a return on. 108 million dollars to distribute light bulbs and shower heads? EV is a state mandated, taxpayer funded jobs program, with little value returned to the ratepayer. EV isn’t the only “non-profit” mandated by the Vermont Legislature to extract dollars- as part of “shumlincare”, there are similar NGO’s collecting health care dollars for dubious return as well.
“Keep in mind that Ms. Cheney had virtually no experience (let alone expertise) in energy-related business when she was appointed.” Sound like somebody else ? Clue his initals are H.B.
As we consider our town budget for 2024, your point about ” the highest growth in jobs are in the tax subsidized health, education, and government sectors” highlights the imbalance between the incomes of the folks supporting the government and the government employees. This is especially true when the government employees salaries and benefits are regulated by unions, or are influenced by hiring competition to retain quality personnel in essential safety services.
Are ordinary folks insulated from the financial pressures of inflation, high interest rates on everything from vehicles to mortgages? How do they manage the cost of raising children? How do they find loose change in fixed incomes to cover the high taxes demanded by government spending? Many retirees leave the state for more affordable living and young people leave to find better jobs and opportunities.
And are our legislators helping? No, they’re doing the opposite. The state can’t print money and you’re right, it’s pretty obvious bankruptcy is looming down the road.
“health, education, and government sectors. Again, nearly 40% of the Vermont workforce is employed in these sectors”. Combine that with the college students, those on public assistance and the non-profits that manage them, etc. and three guesses which party they all vote for. Gota keep that gravy train a rollin’.
Good observation. People do vote their pocketbook.
You are correct! NGOs and non-profits on every level (Federal, State and local) are part and parcel of the corrupt system. They are funded by corporations and the government. They are awarded string-free grants and tax-free donations (24/7 laundry services.) They are connected to elite organizations such as Open Societies, Rockefeller Foundation, ActBlue, and many other trusts that use them as a front to push their agendas. Infiltration, not invasion.
Cheney was, to give her her due, a well-informed vice-chair of the House Energy Committee. When I was an energy lobbyist of sorts back then, she steuck me ad a legislator who knew quite a bit about energy issues, IMHO.
Your point about jobs and how people vote is spot-on. People DO vote their pocketbook. If their paychecks come directly or indirectly from government, no surprise they vote for more government, even if it means higher taxes.
Guy, Ms. Cheney may have had some ancillary experience on a political energy committee. But who was ‘informing’ her? Was it the T-Mobil and Comcast lobbyists that contributed to her husband’s political campaigns?
I meant the Vermont House Committee on Energy and Natural Resources – dealt with all energy related legislation, had oversight over state energy boards and agencies. Not saying nepotism couldn’t have been involved, just saying it wasn’t a total stretch to name her to PUC
So noted, Guy.
Wow ! Thank you Mr. Kelan ! I had no idea that “Efficiency Vermont” had become so insidious . This is what we get when our elected legislators farm out the important business that we send them to Mount Peculiar to do for us. Not only do we lose direct control, but it becomes more, and more costly. It also gives these “non profits” the ability to virtually police themselves. A recent article in VDC about VPIRG (yesterday I believe?) comes to mind as another example. Our legislators establish these monsters, open the door, give them a push out, then wash their hands of them. Our Legislators have become lazy, and/or scared to make hard decisions. Prefering to make decisions on the chicken crap, and creating study committees, and handing over regulatory power to boards that answer to no one. S5 comes to mind. Our legislature needs to be reigned in, and told to grow a backbone, so they have to make these decisions themselves. Forget about vehicle idleing, dog ear cropping, telling people what kind of stove they can cook on, the kind of vehicle they can drive, and the endless “Be it resolved that so and so was a good boy or girl” and take on the job they are supposed to do. No more raises, no full time jobs. They are complaining about only making $800 a week. Don’t forget per diem, and milage. Mind you they work Tuesday – Friday, and from about noon on Fridays the parking lots grow emptier, and emptier. I was a Security Guard on that complex for 15 years, charged in part with protecting their, disingenuous, self important arses, and I never made close to $800 a week ! If they do not want to do the job they were elected to do for whatever reason, they should not have taken it on. They remind me of the Flatlanders that move here, and then set about changing the state to be more like the state they moved here from. Oops, I forgot, that’s what they are !
Cracking down on leftist “nonprofits” is just about the most important thing any Republican can do. These “nonprofits” are behind just about all the horrible blue state policies.
If you think this is a massively expensive boondoggle now, wait until Efficiency Vermont is named the Default Delivery Agent for the Clean Heat Standard. Which, for anyone paying attention, is the clear plan after, of course, a “thorough search” for the most qualified applicant.
Mr. Roper’s insight is potentially terrifying. These “clean heat credits” are a form of currency, a state mandated exchange of dollars in a state managed form. The obvious potential for misuse, theft and taxation of these credits, along with the administration costs should alarm every person that lives in the state of Vermont. We all consume heat energy, in whatever form- and we have willingly allowed the “state” to control and tax every btu. To have a NGO be the sole administrator of this currency is as big a folly as the ‘clean heat standard” itself. Regardless of your individual position on “climate change”, you will be directly impacted without recourse- save for the final option of leaving Vermont- if you can. For those that burn wood for heat, your reprieve from the taxation of your wood will be short-lived.
As this bureaucratic nightmare unfolds, not one btu will escape the taxation and fees already planned.
Mr. Bammo is correct. In fact, the so-called ‘carbon credits’, established years ago to incentivize ‘efficient’ electric use, are not only a traded currency in the utilities industry, the corrupt nature of their existence is manifest in the fact that it is the electric utilities that set their value.
Remember folks, your legislators are neophytes when it comes to detail. They specialize in public relations (i.e., propaganda). And while some call legislative reliance on special interest consultants mere ‘nepotism’, the practice is not only corrupt, it will, as Hemingway is known to have said, slowly and then suddenly bankrupt us.
Next week, I have to argue to our select board and board of ‘civil authority’. to be able to witness the 2024 election’s hand counted results. The ballots for 2020 had QR codes on the mail in ones, and not on the in person ones, and they expect that to be acceptable with the new dominion tabulators. Here in Putney, we will see if they agree to honor the will of the people with sunshine. Additionally, please keep you eye on a masterplan I am working on for restoring the power of the purse to We the people. Its at ewegrow .com and you can get in. touch with me to contribute to renewing governance by the people, for and of the people.
Emily, have you addressed the fact that Vermont Town Clerks don’t verify the signatures on mail-in ballot envelopes? As it is, there is no way of knowing who actually filled out the mail-ballot.
Thank you for bringing this important issue to light once again.
i am a non profit//// can not replace my truck/// the salt brine ate my old truck///this was another vermont state project to force you into more debt /// car dealers love it //// vermont tax department loves it /// car repair shops love it///banks love it/// any questions///