{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://goodlander.house.gov/media/press-releases/goodlander-wins-fight-to-put-liberty-utilities-service-denials-under-review-by-nh-public-utilities-commission/", "Goodlander Wins Fight to Put Liberty Utilities\u2019 Service Denials Under Review by NH Public Utilities Commission", "2026-09-30", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "House", "NH", "Maggie Goodlander", "G000604", "goodlander.house.gov", "goodlander", "https://goodlander.house.gov/media/press-releases/", "scraper", "Goodlander is among the first Members of Congress in America to take the fight to lower utility costs before a public utilities commission. Goodlander secured full party status in this rate case \u2014 and helped persuade the NH PUC to take on the investor-owned utility\u2019s service denials that sparked her involvement.\n\nConcord, N.H. \u2014 The New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission (PUC) issued a written orderthis week granting a petition filed by Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander to intervene in Liberty Utilities\u2019 rate case after Goodlander petitioned the PUC to intervene in this case last month. Following Goodlander\u2019s advocacy, the PUC also agreed to take up Liberty\u2019s decision to deny service to towns across the Lakes Region \u2013 identifying Liberty\u2019s \u201cmoratorium\u201d on new natural gas service in the Lakes Region as an issue that belongs in this PUC proceeding.\n\nIt started with an abrupt decision by Liberty earlier this year to deny service to Lakes Region ratepayers, imposing significant delays on housing construction. In April, Goodlander convened local officials and affected stakeholders in Franklin and in June sent an oversight letter demanding answers from Liberty executives. Liberty has confirmed a permanent fix would require replacing the aging, 22-mile \u201cHigh Line\u201d pipeline serving the Lakes Region, a project Goodlander has spent months investigating. The utility committed to an interim solution with portable liquefied natural gas and Goodlander has continued pressing for a permanent solution and accountability.\n\nLiberty then asked the PUC to raise its annual operating revenues by more than $35.8 million; for a typical residential heating customer, that would mean a 16.54 percent increase \u2014 nearly $26 more every month \u2014 and a non-heating customer\u2019s bill would rise more than $12, a 20.52 percent increase \u2014 according to Liberty\u2019s own customer notice. On August 31, Goodlander petitioned the NH PUC to intervene. She made the case that the Commission should take up the service denials \u2014 and the Commission agreed.\n\nThe NH PUC granted Goodlander\u2019s petition to intervene from the bench and its written order explains that her participation is in the interest of justice and will help develop the record on important issues, finding that her background, knowledge, and interests will help build the record the Commission relies on. The Commission\u2019s initial notice of issues did not list the moratorium. After Goodlander and others raised it and made the case, the Commission will now decide whether Liberty\u2019s moratorium is legal and consistent with its tariffs, whether the underlying capacity problems can be resolved fairly for all ratepayers, and whether Liberty\u2019s proposed temporary solution is legal and appropriate.\n\nAs a full party, Goodlander is able to file testimony, press Liberty in discovery, and question its witnesses at hearings on behalf of constituents who are Liberty ratepayers, through final hearings scheduled for June and July 2027.\n\nIt is a rare step. Goodlander is among the first Members of Congress in America to advocate for her constituents directly before a public utilities commission \u2014 bringing a federal lawmaker\u2019s voice, and the experience of a former Justice Department antitrust lawyer who took on monopolies, into the forum where the utility costs Granite Staters are asked to pay are decided. New Hampshire\u2019s Consumer Advocate Don Kreis has said he had never seen it before. He called it \u201cpleasantly audacious.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo utility should get to jack up rates while leaving New Hampshire families and small businesses wondering if they\u2019ll even have service,\u201d said Congresswoman Goodlander. \u201cWhen Liberty Utilities told people across our Lakes Region it would not serve them, I made the case that our Public Utilities Commission had to take a hard look at that, and I\u2019m very encouraged that the Commission agreed. Granite Staters deserve answers, affordable bills, and reliable service, and I will use every tool I have to get them. When the people I represent are told \u2018no,\u2019 I will never watch from the sidelines.\u201d\n\nADDITIONAL BACKGROUND:\n\nGoodlander has made lower energy costs and investor-owned utility accountability a focus of her work in Congress:\n\nGoodlander urged the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission to reconsiderEversource\u2019s approved 43.4 percent rate increase and helped introduce the Lowering Utility Bills Act to rein in excessive profits at investor-owned utilities.\n\nShe introduced bipartisan, bicameral legislation to accelerate hydropower production and lower energy costs, launched a bipartisan Hydropower Caucus to do the same, and joined efforts to protect ratepayers from potentially costly utility transactions.\n\nBefore taking office, Goodlander served as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Justice Department\u2019s Antitrust Division, where she took on corporate monopolies driving up costs for families and small businesses.\n\n###", 1, "2026-10-01T11:23:28Z", "2026-10-01T11:25:15Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://goodlander.house.gov/media/press-releases/goodlander-wins-fight-to-put-liberty-utilities-service-denials-under-review-by-nh-public-utilities-commission/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.9539091736078262, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}