Bill Darcy: Keep leadership team intact in NH Electric Co-op election

To The Daily Sun,

The Laconia Daily Sun published letters from Mr. Gerald Beck and Ms. Laurel Boivin advocating the election of a slate of candidates to replace the current New Hampshire Electric Cooperative directors, including me.

As chair of the New Hampshire Electric Cooperative, I am proud of the progress we have made for our members. Over the past six years, NHEC has kept distribution rates below inflation despite large increases in equipment costs, maintained the lowest-cost energy rates in the region, and this year reduced the fixed monthly charge by 16% — providing meaningful relief for seniors, small homes and seasonal properties. We have doubled reliability spending to shorten outages, built more than 3,000 miles of high-speed fiber to connect 40,000 underserved members, and secured a $50 million broadband grant that I helped obtain.

NHEC also has a strong renewable energy record; it now offers 50% or 100% renewable energy options, has added battery storage to its large Moultonborough solar project, maintains more long-term renewable contracts than any other electricity provider in the state, and has doubled solar net metering since 2020.

We have also successfully transitioned to a highly capable new chief executive officer, Michael Jennings.

Vote to continue this positive momentum by voting for fellow director Bob MacLeod and me to keep our leadership team intact. We will continue to make improvements to further our members’ two highest priorities, affordability and reliability.

Members may also consider supporting a strong non-incumbent candidate, Carl Knowlton. Online voting has started. Just sign in to the NHEC SmartHub account, or submit a mail ballot.

Bill Darcy

Benton