On April 8, the Hudson Board of Selectmen continued their discussion with the Community Power Coalition of NH (CPCNH) following previous concerns over rising energy prices and a perceived lack of transparency with the Hudson aggregation plan. CPCNH Acting General Manager Henry Herndon was at the meeting with Hudson Sustainability Committee members to answer questions.
“CPCNH was created to serve its members, including the town of Hudson, and is accountable and answerable to those members and the public we collectively serve,” said Herndon, outlining some of the functions of the organization. “CPCNH sets rates to cover costs, as a result of changing market conditions and a careful reexamination of our projected costs over the next few months, we adjusted rates to cover these costs and began rebuilding our reserves from March 2025 onwards while balancing our objective of offering competitive rates for customers.”
The March rate adjustment had been unexpected for many ratepayers following what Herndon called an “additional draw” on the organization’s reserves caused by a colder-than-expected winter. There was confusion over how much the loss had been and how much was in the CPCNH reserve fund.
“When we had our last Sustainability meeting, originally we heard numbers as high $18 million, then when we had our last Board meeting, we heard $10-12 million, and now we’re down to $8.4 million,” said Selectman David Morin, going through several reports estimating money lost from the reserve fund. “How did that happen?”
Herndon was unsure where the $18 million came from, specifying that his $8.4 million number represented losses from Aug. through Jan. 2025. It was unclear what the net margin was for the CPCNH reserve fund in February, although the goal is to have enough extra money to cover operating expenses for 60 days.
“So, the rate is going up to replenish that reserve fund. What percentage of the bill for the average consumer of CPCNH goes towards the reserve?” said Xen Vurgaropulos.
Herndon did not have an exact answer, but called the percentage “small.”
“That reserve fund is what is product to operate the business in the long-term with stability,” he said. “We shop in the ISO New England wholesale power market. That’s the six state, regional power market.”
One issue of contention was transparency, especially from the CPCNH, which conducted several non-public meetings during Jan. and Feb. There was also at least one CPCNH policy violation related to forecasting rates.
“The minutes of those meetings have not necessarily been made public. Should the Board request it, we can provide the policy compliance assessment material,” said Herndon, though he was unwilling to give such information during an open, public meeting as such material was considered a “confidential document.”
“If we’re receive that document, it would be subject to a Right-To-Know law and someone could then request it from us, which would then have to remain public. I don’t understand why we’re forcing the public to go through these channels when the information is out in the open,” said Selectman Dillion Dumont. “Quite frankly, this is what poses an issue as far as transparency.”
Morin urged the CPCNH to put more effort into keeping Hudson residents proactively informed following public frustration over the March rate increase. According to him, some residents were caught off-guard by the change.
“We had a gentleman say he was not aware of anything, he had to follow up on it and unfortunately, who takes the brunt of the calls when people’s bulls go up? It’s going to be the Town Administrator’s office, and it should be you guys,” said Morin. “We don’t have people looking at your website, they only look at their bill. I think a directly mailing to each house that rates are going up on this date needs to be done.”
A formal request to create such a mailer was official made by the Board of Selectmen with a unanimous vote. Over 70% of Hudson residents are part of the Community Power Program.
“The Board of Directors, we appoint them and they’re supposed to work for us, but they’re making a decision to make sure the company stays afloat. Is that a conflict?” asked Morin. “We were told we were going to get cheaper rates.”
Herndon stated that he did not think there was any conflict of interest from the directors, predicting a “net saving” for customers, even if rates were more expensive compared to Eversource in the short term.
