2021-10-22 00:00:00 - Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy
2021-10-22 00:00:00 - Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy
SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
So good morning everyone. I want to call this uh, hearing of the telecommunications utilities and energy7 committee to order. It is Friday, 22. And today we're going to be dealing with some utilities legislation. Um, but let me begin by uh, first introducing the House members who are with us today. We have Representative joan Meschino from Hull. We have Representative steve Owens from Watertown and we have Representative Lenny mirra from West Newbury. I'm sure some folks may check in as the hearing progresses, but that's who's here right now. And uh, let me turn it over to Senator Barrett if he wants to make a few introductory remarks, Thank you very much. Mr Chair a chairperson. I don't think other members of the Senate are currently with us. So I'm going to throw the ball right back into your court. But I do want to welcome everyone who is joining us today to testify on these important pieces of legislation. And I want to thank you Mr chairman and members of the house on the committee for for swelling the ranks and providing a interested audience to today's witnesses. Well, thank you so much. And ah with that, why don't we dive right into the testimony? Uh, and uh, Representative Barrett, I see you, you're wide awake out there in the berkshires. Are you in the same time zone as us here? Out on the eastern part of the commonwealth.
[REP BARRETT:] I'm probably one of the few that has to drive through the state of new york to get from one town in my district to another town and very close to Vermont where they're waiting for snow.
So Excellent. Well, Representative barrett. Uh, the floor is yours. We'd love to hear from you.
[REP BARRETT:] [HB3256] I'm here to speak on House Bill 3256. This bill would exempt municipality from124 having to pay make ready fees for attaching their equipment to the utility poles located in a public right of way attachments of these utility poles now must be for uh, any other effort that may be out there. What I'm asking for in this bill more than anything else is to bring it to the attention of a real problem. We have out here in the146 berkshires as well as other rural towns, even out in the Cape and, and even in, in south eastern massachusetts with broadband service. Right now, utilities have collected over just in my district, in the western part of, of the state, over $26 million. These make ready fees, make ready fees. It basically means that if a cable company or um, wants to attach or municipality wants to attach to their poll, they have a right to charge. These fees have reached the point of being exorbitant. Um, we are now seeing legislation in Washington that's going to do something about addressing broadband, which is a major problem.
The taxpayers of Massachusetts have contributed over $100 million dollars to the last minute on the file. Mine filed final mile middle bile, whatever mile you have out there and helping that broadband come west and in doing so the ones that have made the most money on it. Obviously our utility companies uh they have charged fees which I believe are exorbitant, I believe that it has to be addressed. Many of the communities in Berkshire county have had to use taxpayers money uh to pony up to put their ah services in. They have received assistance from the state. This really isn't criticism about the mass broadband institute in any way, what it is is saying, we have a significant problem out there. I think we have to have more oversight. I don't know if this is the bill uh that can address that issue. I do know that this bill has been adopted in maine, I talked to the Senate, one of the senators up there last week and asked them what the reaction has been and they said they have not yet been sued by the utility companies, but one community has attempted to uh utilize the polls in their community and they have been given a very high estimate on what it would be for insurance for them to go on.
Their decisions have to be made as269 to who can go on the270 polls and things like that. And that's understandable. But this is an issue that has to275 be brought to the forefront. Communities will not be able to afford broadband if they want to build their own out. They need competition. We only have one cable company out in this area and they control all types of prices, as you know, they're not regulated in that area. And the only way we're going to be able to bring those prices down and also get them to do something about improving the broadband service out here is give them, give them effective competition. The Verizon's of the world aren't going to come out here and do it because we are so sparsely settled. What is going to have to happen is there is going to have to be effective competition and it's going to have to come from the local level and putting forth this bill for the second time.
I'm hopeful that we will be able to get some attention to this and continue322 to stop paying these exorbitant fees uh, to the utility companies. I'm sure that you'll be hearing from, um, the companies themselves whether it be a national grid or whatever they're called now in Verizon and everybody else who owns these polls, but the funny339 part of it is they can determine the ability of a poll to, to have these attachments made to it. So I would ask this committee, um, maybe not go so far as to give this a favorable, but giving one with an asterisk that this should be addressed and maybe possibly putting some of the staff members much more talented than many of us that knows how to come to a solution in dealing with this problem and save the taxpayers of massachusetts a lot of money communities a lot of money and most importantly it will drive prices down in the consumer end. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you. Representative Barrett. Ah there are any questions for many members of the committee for Representative Barrett. Actually I do have one Mr chairman. Mr Chair, may I call you Mr chair just call me, call me terms with affection. Uh, and I'm always delighted. All right, thank you.
[SEN BARRETT:] Uh, Thank you. Representative, could you educate me and members of other members of the committee about to the extent that you know the answer about who does own these these polls I guess I'm referring really to polls throughout massachusetts. But uh in this case you would know about the polls in the Berkshire I know there is commonly referred to as utilities, utilities owning them, but which utilities own them. And uh, I I take it that the thrust of the problem here is that is that whoever the companies that owns them is charging too much to the next company to connect and and the next company might be a company that wishes to deliver broadband services to Western mask. So who owns442 them? And what is really the core issue here that the legislation seeks to address?
[REP BARRETT:] Well, first of all, it only addresses communities in underserved areas or have no broadband at all. It's only, there wouldn't be for downtown boston or other places like that, but underserved areas which are having problems with effective the polls themselves when I468 say utility companies, usually the phone company and the electric company, they share ownership some own475 actually the whole poll themselves. Others don't. They have the right to charge for the use of this poll, which481 is fine, that's a private sector. Um But in this particular case, what I'm recommending in this bill are suggesting in this bill that communities that want to attach for public safety or for cable or broadband services would not be charged and someone would say. And the MBI was surprised me a little bit. We can't we can't take money away from these companies.
Well I'm not taking any money away from them but look at what they've made in in the past uh since 2014. When this has come forth the amount of and and they can determine. Also the utility has the determination themselves not the MBI or anybody else do. A determination is what has to be done to the poll? Many of these polls are replaced because527 they're aged out and who is paying for it? The taxpayers, would they be, would they be uh replacing them if it didn't an extra extra attachments didn't have to be made to it. So what's happening? They're replacing the polls in many cases to create more space on their polls they're saying or their aged out. Um those types of547 things there just as a real lack of oversight and and I've also heard, well the utilities that this is allowed, we'll just charge higher rates to everybody else. Well,557 you know what,558 that's up to the DPU to make that decision, but I can tell you this much what they're doing here.
You know, it reminds me of the thing, you know after you go into a restaurant or someplace and and you spend a569 lot of money there and you're there quite a bit of the time. All of a sudden the owner gives buys a desert once in a while. These utilities aren't buying us any dessert here and they're taking everything that they possibly can off the table and you know what, that's not the friendly corporate way as far as I'm concerned and I'm not one of those out there that want to bury corporations or anything else. But come on folks, this will improve their businesses. This will help them grow areas out in the west and we've seen a migration west. So in a roundabout way their owned the utility companies, what I refer to as the phone company and whatever electrical service it may be throughout the state ever source national grid Verizon.
SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you. Thank you very much that clarifies. Thank you Mr chair and ah any other questions for Representative. Barrett
seeing none. Thank you have a lovely weekend everybody you to and uh hopefully we'll see you out in the Berkshire assumed have a great weekend.
SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
And our next witness to testify is representative steve Owens You're going to have to step from behind the rostrum and step out in front636 of us. Uh, good to see you and Representative Owens you have the floor,
[REP OWENS:] [HB3359] good to see you. I'll put my other hat on. I can't, I can't quite get to the rostrum from from here, but I want to thank you Mr Chairman thank you. Chair Barrett as well. Just gonna be very brief. I just wanted to speak on behalf of House 3359 which is an act relative to double polls. Um, the issue of removing the doubled up utility poles. I know it seems it seems a little frivolous, but um, you know, despite being just unsightly, I believe they do present a safety danger. Um,671 this is particularly true when the old polls when they stay up long after their, they're due to be replaced and the deteriorating the whole time here in Watertown, we've identified polls that have been doubled up for as long as eight years before they were replaced, which is long after their, they're supposed to be taken care of.
And the issue has become so contentious here that businesses and property developers, they're caught between the town and the utilities usually in our case ever source uh delaying installations702 as the town doesn't want to approve any new polls before the current double pole situation is remediated um and on top of that we know710 that in order to meet our climate goals, I don't have to tell uh either either of you uh chairman that we're going to need to upgrade our electric infrastructure and what this bill would do is just bring all stakeholders together to make sure that the poll like lifecycle management system is robust enough so that these upgrades take place, that municipalities aren't left with these forests of double utility poles as we make the transition. And I look forward to working with the committee on on how to The best best address the situation, whether it's 3559 or one of the other bills uh that's up for hearing today. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Well, thank you. Representative Owens um are there any questions from the members of the committee?
[REP ROY:] I'm seeing none of them off the hook. You are off the hook, come back and join us around the table. I'll sneak under the Yeah, no problem. And um I noted uh I do note that Senator Comerford had signed up to testify but she indicated uh a little short time ago that she was unable to make it, so she will not be testifying. I do want to note that Vice chair paul Mark has joined us for the hearing and Representative Hawkins have also joined us. Welcome. Uh The only other witness793 that had signed up to testify is Peter Ashley from Dell Technologies, I do not see Peter in the participant list, but Peter if you are here under cover of somebody else's name and you wish to testify, this would be a great moment. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
I am not hearing from Peter Ashley. So I would make one last call. Are there any witnesses who wish to testify on any matter? Uh Today that may not have gotten signed up in time but would like to offer some testimony
hearing? None. I will call this this hearing uh to a close. And I thank everyone for your participation today and wish you all a great weekend. Thank you for your endurance Mr Chan Uh Have a look853 at everybody.
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