With more than $4 BILLION leaving the state every year to pay for our energy, it’s a smart town that finds a better way.

Take a useless plot of land – say, an old landfill-cover it with solar panels, and let the sun do the rest.

If the sun gives you MORE energy than you can use, the credit earned is “net metering,” and it pays the cost of putting up those panels. No worries about the rising cost of energy. Your town saves hundreds of thousands – even millions – in energy bills, as the sun keeps shining. And those savings are passed on to you, the tax- and rate-payers.

No wonder so many NH towns are considering net metering, or have already invested money in designing plans that are now shovel-ready.

But each of the last three years, Chris Sununu VETOED legislation to permit net metering projects of 1-5 megawatts (just the right size for a town, business, school or hospital to benefit from economies of scale). There are more than 60 towns and cities that had to abandon hope for energy independence and savings. Here are just a few:

Berlin, Claremont, Concord, Conway, Derry, Dover, Enfield, Exeter, Franklin, Groveton, Hanover, Jaffrey, Keene, Lebanon, Laconia, Manchester, Nashua, Ossipee, Portsmouth, Rochester, Shelburne, Somersworth, Sugar Hill, Temple, Winchester. …

Do you live in one of those towns? Some were ready to start digging, others were investigating the possibilities. Sununu’s veto caused them to scrap their plans.

What is the meaning of “local control,” if these towns can’t pursue such enormous energy savings for their citizens? Is Sununu making his fossil fuel donors happy, by robbing our towns and you of the money you could be saving, on good clean renewable energy?

Sununu’s opponent, Senate Majority leader Dan Feltes, championed clean energy and net metering during his 3 terms in our NH state Senate. You can see Dan’s thorough and thoughtful energy plan at: https://medium.com/@DanFeltesNH/green-jobs-green-future-dcf92e0db1c8.