Letter: Rate Filing by Berkshire Gas Company

To the Editor:

This is a testimonial letter submitted to the Public Utilities Commission:

Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities
Re: D.P.U. 25-170 – Rate Filing by The Berkshire Gas Company

To the Commissioners:

I write in unequivocal opposition to the rate increase proposed in D.P.U. 25-170 and, specifically, to challenge the excessive and unjustified return on equity (ROE) and capital structure assumptions embedded in this filing.

At its core, this case is not simply about infrastructure or cost recovery. It is about how much profit Berkshire Gas expects Massachusetts ratepayers to guarantee corporate interests regardless of economic conditions.

The requested ROE asks working families, seniors on fixed incomes, and small businesses to underwrite private shareholder returns that are insulated from the very market risks everyone else must bear.

That is not equitable, and it is not consistent with the Department's duty to ensure rates are just and reasonable.

A regulated monopoly is not entitled to premium-market returns without premium-market risk. Utilities operate with guaranteed customer bases, cost recovery mechanisms, and regulatory protections that dramatically reduce exposure compared to competitive enterprises. When risk is reduced, allowed return must follow. Anything else is a windfall at the public's expense.

If the proposed ROE exceeds what is necessary to attract capital under current economic conditions, then it is excessive. If the proposed capital structure overweights equity relative to debt in a way that inflates earnings, then it shifts avoidable cost onto customers.

Ratepayers should not finance a balance sheet designed to maximize shareholder yield rather than minimize consumer impact.

• Whether the proposed ROE reflects actual capital market conditions or simply industry wish-list benchmarks;
• Whether the equity ratio is artificially high compared to comparable utilities;
• Whether risk factors cited by the company are already mitigated by regulatory mechanisms;
• Whether downward adjustments are warranted to reflect the company's low-risk, regulated status.

Every tenth of a percentage point in ROE translates directly into millions of dollars extracted from captive customers. This is not theoretical. It is real money coming out of household budgets in communities that are already stretched to the brink.

The responsibility of the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities is not to preserve earnings targets. It is to protect the public from overreach. Approving an inflated ROE or an imbalanced capital structure would effectively compel residents to subsidize shareholder returns beyond what is reasonably required.

That would be a failure of regulatory discipline.

I urge the Department to substantially reduce any requested ROE to reflect true risk, require a capital structure that prioritizes affordability, and reject any element of this filing that places investor return ahead of consumer protection.

Before a single additional dollar is extracted from residents, the Department must also demand clear and compelling evidence that Berkshire Gas has:

• Exhausted all internal cost controls;
• Eliminated inefficiencies and unnecessary spending;
• Scrutinized executive compensation and significantly reduced administrative overhead;
• Minimized the financial impact on customers to the greatest extent possible.

If this increase is granted without aggressive examination and meaningful reductions, it will send a clear message that affordability is secondary to corporate earnings. That message would be deeply damaging to the public trust.

I demand that you reject this proposal in its current form and require substantial justification, transparency, and revision before any increase is even considered. The public deserves protection — not platitudes.

Ratepayers are not a blank check. They are the people you are charged with defending.

Respectfully,

Ashley Shade
City Council President
City of North Adams, Mass.

North Adams Becomes a Purple Heart Community

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
05:16AM / Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Veterans Service Officer Kurtis Durocher, a Purple Heart recipient, tells his own story of how he was wounded in Iraq.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — City leaders last week held a ceremony marking the city as a Purple Heart Community to honor local military service members wounded or killed in combat.

 

"This designation is much more than a sign that will stand at the entrances to our city," said Kurtis Durocher, Northern Berkshire veterans service officer at City Hall on Friday. "It is a lasting commitment and a promise to this community. We'll never forget the sacrifices made by those who are wounded or killed while serving our nation. It is a public declaration of the courage and sacrifices of combat wounded. Veterans will always have a place of honor here in North Adams."

 

As a Purple Heart Community, North Adams will place signs throughout the city acknowledging the designation. The city will also hold a ceremony every Aug. 7 on National Purple Heart Day.

 

During the inaugural ceremony, Durocher said he was asked by the Military Order of the Purple Heart to find a keynote speaker for the event, preferably a Purple Heart recipient. But he was unable to find someone willing to speak. With the date approaching, he decided to tell his own story.

 

"I don't like standing up and telling my own personal story ... But I realized, in my position as a VSO, I get so many ... children of veterans who will say, 'I didn't know anything about my father until after he passed because he just didn't talk about it,'" Durocher said. "... I have been that way until I've gotten into this position, and so, now, I try to tell my story as much as I can when it is brought to me."

 

Durocher served in the Army for 20 years and retired as a master sergeant. On Friday, he recalled a time early in his career while serving in the 82nd Airborne Division deploying to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. On Sept. 12, 2003, his squad was conducting a patrol on Route Irish in Baghdad. He was serving as a gunner on an LMTV when it was struck by a 155-millimeter artillery shell. He said the explosive had been hidden behind a guardrail and detonated using nothing more than a washing machine timer.

 

"In an instant, everything changed. The blast knocked me unconscious. When I regained consciousness, I instinctively was removing my helmet," he said. "Almost immediately my training took over. We had been taught repeatedly that attacks like this were often followed by a secondary attack or an ambush. I quickly put my helmet back on and began searching for my machine gun."