Light Board Reviews $6.6M Rate Refund Fix

Other Committee · Meeting of October 29, 2026

CONCORD — The Concord Light Board spent an hour reviewing a $6.6 million power-cost accounting error that auditors traced to a formula that failed to count electricity line losses. Light Plant staff, identified only as Jason, Laura and Nan, and auditors Heather Isaacs and Adam Schremser of Goulet, Selvedia and Associates walked members John Dalton, Chris Schaffner, Warren Leon, Nicole Groszner and Tyson Kupczynski through how the balance swung roughly $11 million, from about negative $4.5 million to positive $6.6 million. The board already voted in September to recover the balance through a 0.7-cent-per-kilowatt-hour surcharge collecting about $100,000 a month over five years.

Finance Committee member Don Kupka asked whether the swing was "actually an $11.4 million change," and auditor Heather Isaacs said the disputed balance "does affect your balance sheet" as "either a liability or a receivable." Staff said several related items, including Watson plant capital costs and renewable energy certificate accounting, should be resolved within about a month.

In the full story:

• Approval of Minutes
• Background on the Power Cost Adjustment Mechanism
• How Rates and the PCA Work
• Discovery of the Line-Losses Error
• Audit Timeline
• Open Items: Watson, RECs and Unbilled Revenue
• Financial Position and the Board's Options
• Fairness and Future Policy
• Public Comment
• Climate Action and Resilience Plan Presentation
• Adjournment
• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report: 2,428 words

Source: the Other Committee meeting of October 29, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript. It was corrected where it differed.