Not a Secret

A bizarre letter in the Fitchburg Pride today, from the president of the utility workers' union. Bizarre in that, I don't really know anyone who thought the workers were the problem. He's right, there's plenty of anger at Unitil and its management, but people seemed supportive of the actual guys hanging off poles. He's trying to drum up support for more workers, which is fine, but he also kind makes it sound like Fitchburg turned on these guys, which I don't think happened. Did I miss something?

Sticking with Their Story

Unitil finally finished its tour of local media this week, with a story in today's Sentinel (finally) on the aftermath of the ice storm. It's more of the same, but one thing in particular bugged me.

That one thing is the continued argument by Schoenberger that the real bad damage stopped on the Fitchburg side of Route 2. He argues that Leominster wasn't hit as bad, and part of that is because the conditions weren't as bad there as in Fitchburg.

There's certainly something to be said for the fickle finger of weather's fate, but at the same time, I still think it's a bunch of hooey. Schoenberger made the same claim in his interview with the Pride earlier this month, and it was something of a bone of contention (you can go to iTunes or here and listen, if you'd like. That portion is pretty deep into the interview).

Here's the thing: Towns like Princeton, Holden, Sterling, Rutland, Paxton, and so on were all pretty much 100 percent without power after the storm (Sterling was at like 90 percent without). Those towns were killed by damage. Go look at a map. What Schoenberger is pitching is that Leominster took a softer hit than Fitchburg. He admits north of Leominster was killed, but for some reason ignores the damage in the burbs to the south, west and east. I just don't get it. For all the half-truths and vagarities that have come out of this, this one for some reason cheeses me off, because it's so obviously not true. Dean Mazzarella may be SuperMayor, but the guy can't single-handedly change the weather. Can he?

If someone from Princeton or Holden reads this, God help Schoenberger. Those snotty towns were in a battle to prove they were the worst-hit community in the state. Holden people were particularly disappointed to hear that I thought Fitchburg looked about the same as their fair town in the immediate aftermath. They'll say they took it worse. I think we're talking a negligible difference in the grand scheme of things. Something Schoenberger either isn't aware of, but won't admit. Either way, it's one particular story line of his that gets me going. Clearly.

Let the Yelling Begin

The hooting and hollering over Unitil starts this afternoon (like it ever really ended) with the City Council's public hearing on their response to the Ice Storm of 2008. If you can't be there, you can follow along with live, blog-style updates at the Fitchburg Pride website. Yes, I don't work there anymore, but I can still pimp it out.

Audio of Unitil Interview

If you're totally into it, you can listen to the entire Fitchburg Pride interview with Unitil CEO Robert Schoenberger and VP George Gantz now. Head over to iTunes, find the Pride's "Two Good Minutes" podcast, and you can listen from there. Or, you can wait until Friday and listen to it here. Or, you can ignore it all together. It might not exactly be riveting listening, but it's out there if you wanna check it out.

Unitil to Seek Rate Increase

Unitil officials told the Fitchburg Pride today that it will eventually seek a rate increase, partly to pay for some of the expenses borne out of the ice storm.

Begin hyperventilating... now.

The discussion over paying for the ice storm was one of a number of issues touched upon during an hour-long interview with CEO Robert Schoenberger and VP George Gantz.

Also discussed, in no particular order:

Some Ohio crews expected to help Unitil bailed, and that was a serious setback to repairs.

Changes should be made to how mutual aid is delivered to effected areas, perhaps not so much based on a utility's crews in the area, but on "worst/first" basis, where all available crews work on the biggest problems first, no matter the utility serving the area.

The estimated bills were based on past usage, but uses higher supply charges from a supply contract finalized over the summer. It's common practice, and adjustments will be made in January. Estimated payments -- even no payments -- are fine.

The company has no plans to get out of Massachusetts.

Schoenberger and Gantz said they felt Unitil was getting better in Fitchburg, and customers were responding, before the storm. Schoenberger acknowledged his company might never have a "love affair" in Fitchburg.

Unitil is working on improving call center operations.

Gantz said he was impressed with Mayor Lisa Wong's messaging and discipline following the storm. He was more evasive when discussing critical comments from public officials.

Schoenberger and Gantz acknowledge a two-pronged PR effort on the local and state level. Jeremy Crockford, from Unitil's new PR firm, O'Neill and Associates, said Boston media received early attention because much of their reporting was erroneous and needed corrections. Gantz described local media coverage as "aggressive," but "fair."

Those are some of the quick bulletpoints, if you're still seeing straight after the start. There's a story that hits on some of this stuff right now at the Pride Website. There will be a larger story in Friday's Pride, and on Friday we'll be putting the audio of the entire interview online for your weekend enjoyment.

No Gantz, Let's Bash Elsewhere

If you didn't see the comment below, George Gantz is taking a pass on tonight's FATV appearance, up to his butt in "emergency" situations around the area. At least they're aware of the "emergency" situations over at Unitil this time. It's been scattered outages, and they've very quickly and proudly announced they've been taken care of quickly today. Good for them.

To fill some more space here in Post #750 (holy crap. 750? I write too much), let's turn our attention to the Boston TV stations, which did themselves oh so proud yesterday and today.

I haven't watched the evening news today, but caught the 6s, the 10s, and the start of the 11s last night. They were in full bluster because there was an ice storm! Just weeks after the last one!

If you remember back to Dec. 10, there were some warnings of some outages in the forecast. Certainly not what we got. This time, the weather guys were pretty on the ball. If anything, the storm was a bit warmer than forecast, but they repeatedly said while there would be ice, it wouldn't be anything like last time. Well played.

On the news side (and I'm looking at you 25, and particularly 7), it was significantly different. If you skipped the weather and just watched the news side, you were expecting Round 2. It really wasn't cool. It was exasperating. It was a reminder that you should skip TV news and read newspapers (particularly the Fitchburg Pride). It stunk.

Anyway, just a reminder that TV news is no good.

Who's Unitil's Audience?

A reporter bitches (again), but also wonders if his paranoia is founded.

In essence, as Unitil goes about a massive PR effort, I wonder if their target audience is the ratepayers in the region, or state officials in Boston, who really hold the company's fate in their hands.

Consider: Unitil has offered the Pride a sit-down with the Unitil CEO, but I saw him on WBZ last night. Why Boston media before local media? Also, why run a full-page ad in Monday's Boston Globe? For the 20 people in Fitchburg, Townsend, Ashby and Lunenburg who pick up the Globe? Or was it to put a big splash in front of officials in Boston?

Look, PR strategy is PR strategy (in this case, Boston heavyweights O'Neill and Associates are involved), and Unitil's end goal is likely to escape as much harm as possible on the state level, and hope by the summertime everything is back to normal. Getting on BZ and into the Globe furthers that strategy better than being here.

So, you'll see Gantz on FATV tonight and maybe at some point we'll get that CEO interview. But in the meantime, pay attention to where Unitil is putting stuff -- and where it's going first -- and you can decide who they're really sorry to. Us, or state officials.

Tonight's Main Event

Clear your schedule and have some snacks on hand tonight -- with the phone nearby perhaps -- as Unitil VP George Gantz takes a spin with Bill Gates on FATV tonight.

First, a word from FATV: There's been some talk of some folks "stopping by" to see Gantz tonight. There will be no studio audience for the show, according to FATV. If you want to call in, the main number is 978-343-0834. I assume that's the number to call. FATV's message at this point: Please call, but don't stop by.

We'll most certainly be watching, and chiming in here either through blow-by-blow blogging, or wrapping it up at the end. That 7-8:30 time slot is tough with bedtime stories to be read and tots to be tucked in, so if we got the blow-by-blow route, there may be some delays as we hit "pause" on the DVR. In any event, by night's end we'll have some words on the whole thing here.

Somebody Loves Unitil

Doing a random search of Unitil, I stumbled on this from streetinsider.com. It's dated Dec. 24, 2008. You know, when most of Fitchburg had power back on. But not all of it.

Janney Montgomery Scott initiates coverage on Unitil Corp. (NYSE: UTL) with a Buy and $23 fair value.

Janney analyst says, "The company has a stable electric and gas utility business in New England and a solid working relationship with its state Commissioners. The recent acquisition of Northern Utilities increases the company’s gas utility customer base and expands its footprint into Maine. In the short-run, earnings growth will be generated from acquisition-related operating efficiencies, while long-term earnings growth will stem from the traditional utility model of capital spending on infrastructure coupled with diligent rate case management, as the company brings returns at Northern Utilities up to par. Unitil offers investors an attractive 6.9% dividend yield, which management has stated it is committed to maintaining."

Unitil Corporation (Unitil) is a public utility holding company.

I know what you're thinking. There's only two comments with the post, but they know what you're thinking, too.

Here We Go Again (?)

Depending on when and where you get your weather news, we might be in for some more trouble tomorrow.

Last night's 7 news on 56 talked about up to a half-inch of ice tomorrow afternoon. This morning on 25, Fitzgibbons said there's no reason to expect anything like last time. And you know what I mean by "last time."

In any case, the mayor sent out an advisory yesterday afternoon telling folks to, you know, stock up on batteries, flashlights, that kind of thing. Just in case. I'll likely be refilling a gas can or two for the olde generator. Just in case.

If the power does stay on tomorrow night, it could be a doozey over at FATV, where Gentleman Bill Gates has Unitil Veep George Gantz on for 90 minutes. The first half will be an interview (which we're very intrigued to see) and then they're taking calls for the last 40 minutes. You have to assume they'll be on the old seven-second delay, and that there will be extra security at FATV HQ tomorrow night. Gotta give Gantz credit for walking into this one.

The Gantz appearance/beating can be considered part of a fairly aggressive rebound strategy by Unitil. They had the much-derided letter last week, they had full-page ads in the dailies yesterday (including El Globo, which is clearly a PR move), and the CEO is being peddled for edit board interviews. They're on the PR offensive, trying to make up lost ground. That's a lot of ground, though. And when you have Gordon Edes against you, well, you're really in trouble.

Unitil Says Sorry

On New Year's Eve afternoon, as desks and offices are clearing out for what could be for many a five-day weekend filled with booze, fun and football, Unitil posts on its website an apology for its handling of the Ice Storm of 2008. You can read it here.

Now What?

Now that the power is back on, the question becomes: What to do with Unitil or the electricity situation in Fitchburg?

The quick answer, of course, is "kick Unitil out." I'm no expert, but it doesn't seem like an easy process.

For a little background, check out the first handful of paragraphs of this story. I can't imagine much has changed in terms of infrastructure improvements in the last year or so.

So if no one wants to buy Unitil because it's too small and there's too much upgrading that needs to be done, the next option might be a municipal light department. There are a number of MLDs in the state, including next-door Princeton. But most of those are smaller communities, although Holyoke and Braintree are munis. It's not unheard of in a community this size, but certainly outside the norm.

There's been a rumor going around that the city would take the lines and poles by eminent domain, and then hook up with a new provider or muni. The mayor shot that rumor down this week, and in doing so questioned whether or not the city would be a good light manager. She pointed specifically to Unitil's biggest problem after the storm -- having enough capacity (work crews) to handle an emergency. It's a question worth pondering.

I did a brief Assessor's Office search of Unitil property (it's under Fitchburg Gas & Electric in that system, by the way), and found 55 properties. They look like a lot of easements and vacant properties. One was $500, one was over $140,000. I can't say I looked at them all, but got enough of a sense to see their property holdings are easily over $1 million, and probably in the $2 million range (if you do the math, please share). I couldn't get a sense of the value of the poles and wires -- an interesting question considering the state's proposal to allow communities to tax that infrastructure.

Someone asked earlier this week how the Fitchburg holdings compared with the rest of the Unitil system. According to its website, Unitil has 25,000 customers in Massachusetts. If I remember right from the storm updates, about 18,000 of those are in Fitchburg. All the Mass system is under FG&E, so it might need to be sold in one chunk. The New Hampshire holdings have 72,000 customers. The new Maine holding is 52,000 customers.

So, now what? Are there any real sale options? What's the confidence level on a municipal? There are going to be some hearings, but what's the long-term goal, other than ripping Unitil a new one? Does anyone think Unitil will take a beating, learn from it, and become a better provider? Or will the hearings offer little more than a chance to rail for a while? There's some time to figure some of this out before and during the hearings, but at some point some goals or targets -- A better Unitil? A new company? A municipal? Stuck with minor changes? -- need to be created.

The Department of Public Utilities says it doesn't remember a municipality changing electric companies/system in recent history. Fitchburg is really kind of left at the leaping-off point of a situation no one has ever really tried before. So, what's the goal, and how do we get there?

Ready for Change

Jan. 7 can't really get here fast enough.

The time between Thanksgiving and New Year's is traditionally a slow one, but throw in the upcoming change in administrations, and it is really pretty quiet right now.

Sure, the mayor and the City Council continue to squabble and point fingers over financial issues, but quite honestly, I'm pretty bored of all that at this point, and it's as much grandstanding as substance right now. It's also kind of reactive and loose-end tying at this point -- not much in terms of proactive or building momentum at this point.

In the meantime, Lisa Wong sits on the sidelines, waiting to get into the game. She faces sky-high expectations, but also has with her the promise of a New Fitchburg. Change won't happen overnight, but consider what's ahead: A new police chief (which might happen before Jan. 7), getting a handle on city finances, butting heads with the union, maybe cutting some jobs, getting the '09 budget ready, drum up some business downtown, figure out how to get windmills into the city (and, hand-in-hand, take on Unitil), keep CoCo Key moving, figure out whether or not fast-track permitting is a good idea (and get some industrial development into the city), jam a trash fee into the city (her plan on this is a good one), try to find a way to upgrade the schools quickly, and continue the drumbeat that Fitchburg is a city on the rise. There's probably somewhere between 2 and 2,002 other important things that I'm leaving off this list.

The problem is, it's tough for Wong to start really working on any of these things, or at least publicly start laying out her plans. She doesn't have the bully pulpit of the Mayor's Office yet. She doesn't have the job and the resources that come with it. She's meeting with tons of people, and starting to figure it all out. But the fact of the matter is she isn't mayor yet, and can't really start doing the job. In the meantime, Mylott might try to go out with a few nice victories, but he can't make too many major decisions without at least consulting Wong. Big decisions he makes now will be owned by her, really.

So, we're in a little bit of a no-man's land right now. The current mayor is certainly a lame duck, and the incoming mayor can't really spread her wings just yet. This coming on the heels of a year's worth of fantastic electoral politics is kind of a downer. But at least the council presidency is still out there to discuss. Sort of. Kind of. Jan. 7 can't get here fast enough.

Unitil Takes a Beating

You're not going to believe this, but officials and residents roasted Unitil last night for its proposed rate increase.

For the next mayor and every other public official in the city, this is an issue that's going to need some thoughtful attention and planning. It's a gigantic problem, partly because the city has little authority, but mostly because there are few answers, and none of them are easy. Someone needs to come up with a plan and start chipping away at it slowly and deliberately. Kind of like being down six runs in the third inning. There aren't any six-run homers, so you need to start with some hits and walks and slowly work it down.

Good luck on that one.

For more on last night's hearing, check out the Fitchburg Pride website.

Unitil Looks for Increase

Head on over to the Fitchburg Pride website when you get a chance, and check out Unitil's proposed increase for distribution rates. Considering the general feeling toward Unitil and rates, it's tough to imagine this will go over well. Unitil, its rates, and how it effects homeowners (and potential buyers) and especially potential and current businesses, has been kind of a fringe issue on the campaign trail. This might push it more front-and-center, you'd have to think.

Let the teeth gnashing begin... now.