The Vermont Public Service Board has once again rejected arguments that ratepayers should get a $21 million refund when the state’s two largest utilities merged.

Vermont Public Radio reports (http://bit.ly/OLFEDb) the board this week upheld a key provision of its June order that allowed Green Mountain Power to merge with Central Vermont Public Service Corporation.

The deal was panned by the consumer group AARP, which had raised an alarm over a payback provision for extra money CVPS customers were ordered to pay the company a decade ago to pull it back from the brink of bankruptcy.

AARP wanted to see the $21 million rebated to ratepayers. But the board approved GMP’s plan that the money would be invested instead in energy efficiency programs. AARP had asked the board to reconsider.

___

Information from: WVPS-FM, http://www.vpr.net