Goodlander is among the first Members of Congress in America to take the fight to lower utility costs before a public utilities commission. Goodlander secured full party status in this rate case — and helped persuade the NH PUC to take on the investor-owned utility’s service denials that sparked her involvement.

Concord, N.H. — The New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission (PUC) issued a written orderthis week granting a petition filed by Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander to intervene in Liberty Utilities’ rate case after Goodlander petitioned the PUC to intervene in this case last month. Following Goodlander’s advocacy, the PUC also agreed to take up Liberty’s decision to deny service to towns across the Lakes Region – identifying Liberty’s “moratorium” on new natural gas service in the Lakes Region as an issue that belongs in this PUC proceeding.

It started with an abrupt decision by Liberty earlier this year to deny service to Lakes Region ratepayers, imposing significant delays on housing construction. In April, Goodlander convened local officials and affected stakeholders in Franklin and in June sent an oversight letter demanding answers from Liberty executives. Liberty has confirmed a permanent fix would require replacing the aging, 22-mile “High Line” pipeline serving the Lakes Region, a project Goodlander has spent months investigating. The utility committed to an interim solution with portable liquefied natural gas and Goodlander has continued pressing for a permanent solution and accountability. 

Liberty then asked the PUC to raise its annual operating revenues by more than $35.8 million; for a typical residential heating customer, that would mean a 16.54 percent increase — nearly $26 more every month — and a non-heating customer’s bill would rise more than $12, a 20.52 percent increase — according to Liberty’s own customer notice. On August 31, Goodlander petitioned the NH PUC to intervene. She made the case that the Commission should take up the service denials — and the Commission agreed.

The NH PUC granted Goodlander’s petition to intervene from the bench and its written order explains that her participation is in the interest of justice and will help develop the record on important issues, finding that her background, knowledge, and interests will help build the record the Commission relies on. The Commission’s initial notice of issues did not list the moratorium. After Goodlander and others raised it and made the case, the Commission will now decide whether Liberty’s moratorium is legal and consistent with its tariffs, whether the underlying capacity problems can be resolved fairly for all ratepayers, and whether Liberty’s proposed temporary solution is legal and appropriate. 

As a full party, Goodlander is able to file testimony, press Liberty in discovery, and question its witnesses at hearings on behalf of constituents who are Liberty ratepayers, through final hearings scheduled for June and July 2027. 

It is a rare step. Goodlander is among the first Members of Congress in America to advocate for her constituents directly before a public utilities commission — bringing a federal lawmaker’s voice, and the experience of a former Justice Department antitrust lawyer who took on monopolies, into the forum where the utility costs Granite Staters are asked to pay are decided. New Hampshire’s Consumer Advocate Don Kreis has said he had never seen it before. He called it “pleasantly audacious.”

“No utility should get to jack up rates while leaving New Hampshire families and small businesses wondering if they’ll even have service,” said Congresswoman Goodlander. “When Liberty Utilities told people across our Lakes Region it would not serve them, I made the case that our Public Utilities Commission had to take a hard look at that, and I’m very encouraged that the Commission agreed. Granite Staters deserve answers, affordable bills, and reliable service, and I will use every tool I have to get them. When the people I represent are told ‘no,’ I will never watch from the sidelines.”

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND:

Goodlander has made lower energy costs and investor-owned utility accountability a focus of her work in Congress:

• Goodlander urged the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission to reconsiderEversource’s approved 43.4 percent rate increase and helped introduce the Lowering Utility Bills Act to rein in excessive profits at investor-owned utilities.

• She introduced bipartisan, bicameral legislation to accelerate hydropower production and lower energy costs, launched a bipartisan Hydropower Caucus to do the same, and joined efforts to protect ratepayers from potentially costly utility transactions.

• Before taking office, Goodlander served as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, where she took on corporate monopolies driving up costs for families and small businesses.

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