CPCNH Office Hours | Meet CPCNH’s New Directors (August 21, 2026)

Speakers are labeled SPEAKER_N. This transcript is machine-generated.

Recording

Okay, thanks Nick. Um, and yeah,
appreciate folks taking the time to hop
on the call. Um, this will be pretty
sort of informal and conversational, but
we'll just have a little bit of a Q&A
discussion with Bill and Rashida as the
new senior staff members on the team.
Uh, get to know them a little bit and
let them get to know you as the members.
Um, and to sort of tee this up, I'll
just uh talk a little bit about our
context. Um,
you know, over the past several months,
CBCH has completed a reorganization of
some staff functions, really focused on
strengthening our core finance and power
operations roles. Um, and so I'm going
to pull up an ORC chart just to orient
us around that a little bit. Um, but to
tee that up, you know, these new staff
members that we'll be chatting with
today really represent new executive
leadership that's focused on finance
power operations and as we move into as
we complete this year and move into
2027, we're going to continue to build
depth of capacity in these areas as we
really focus on uh maximizing the value
of portfolio and the value that CPC&H
can deliver for our members and
customers. So within this structure, we
really now have the capacity, the
organization to execute on some of our
key strategic initiatives to really
measurably improve our competitive
position uh and value. So I'm going to
share my screen
briefly. Let's see.
And perhaps somebody can give me a
thumbs up if you can see that
Bill's nodding. Okay.
Um so this is the organization chart for
CPC&H. Of course, ultimately we are
accountable to our uh 60 to 70 member
cities, towns and counties who elect our
board of directors uh who are
responsible for you know hiring the
executive and providing general control
and oversight of our finances, our rate
setting and the organization as a whole.
Uh members and board make up our
oversight committees and then within
this structure we've really organized
around four departments. member services
led by Jaclyn Kaspari who's out today um
which really does a lot of different
things but also provides cross
departmental support and then Dina
Dennis leading regulatory and
legislative affairs on the policy and
public advocacy side of things. Today's
discussion is really focused on the core
business functions Rashidita Maruda as
our new director of finance and her
responsibilities within that domain and
then Bill Bullock on power operations in
within that domain. So this is just a
quick snapshot to you know get a picture
of the organization and with that I'll
go ahead and
um intro Rashidita and Bill.
So um
bear with me one moment.
Okay. So uh starting with Rashidita. Uh
welcome Rashidita. We're really glad to
have Rashidita Maruda joining us as our
director of finance. She started on June
15th. So it's been just a hair over two
months. And Rashidita's background,
she's got more than 15 years of
experience in
public agency transportation and utility
finance. She specialized in long range
budgeting, forecasting, capital
planning, debt management, and strategy.
And Rashida worked at the Massachusetts
Port Authority um for a good while. Uh
this is the public agency that owns and
operates the airport, the port and
tunnel, and other public infrastructure
down in Boston. And in that role,
Rashida managed a $3.8 8 billion capital
program, led bond issuance in rating
agency engagement and oversaw financial
planning while serving as an assistant
treasurer. And more recently, Rashidita
had some utility experience working at
New Hampshire Electric Co-op and she's
finishing up her MBA in business
intelligence. So, welcome Rashidita.
>> Thank you, Henry.
>> Uh, and then Bill. Uh, brief bio on
Bill. Uh, Bill started less than two
weeks ago, uh, on August 10th as
director of power operations. And Bill
joined the CBC&H having uh about 25
years of experience in power generation,
energy supply, and energy storage. He
started out his career as a power plant
developer responsible for engineering,
financial analysis, and contract
negotiations for major power plant
development and construction. Um, and
he's worked at both investorowned
utilities and public power utilities on
the efficiency and demand side program,
including some work developing battery
projects, which we may discuss. um and
also as a director primarily responsible
for power supply for municipal
utilities. And Bill uh has a BS in
mechanical engineering from Wester Poly
Techn Institute, Master of Engineering
from Illinois, Illinois Institute of
Technology and an MBA from Columbia.
Welcome, Bill.
>> Thank you, Henry. Sorry for all those
syllables and [laughter]
right. Um so again, we'll make this
conversational. I'm just going to ask a
couple questions kind of to facilitate a
dialogue and then we're looking forward
to having, you know, members chime in
and and ask your own questions and maybe
share a little bit about your
perspectives and interests as well. Um,
but yeah, Rashidita, maybe you could
just kick us off. Tell us a little bit
about the path that led you to CPC&H and
maybe some of the experiences in your
background that you think will be
valuable in your current role.
>> Yeah, sure. Um, thank you. So you
covered most of my experience and um
I'll just uh going to give a little bit
of uh background. Um I spent most of my
career in public sector finance which
just started with Mass Health and then
um kind of transition to Massport where
I spent a little bit over 15 years. Uh
most of uh most of people know Massport
as Logan airport but uh there are
Massport owns and operates several other
airports in Hasgam and Port of Boston.
So I was there I started as a financial
program manager, assistant treasurer. Um
and then what's what's interesting is
that my role really had two sides and
and I'll get to how that relates to
sympathy and age experience. So one of
the side was the traditional public
finance. So uh I worked on bond
issuances, capital planning,
investments, grants and also a big part
of my job was uh helping ensure those
projects were financed responsibly and
that's one of the goals with CPC&H uh
being able to explain the numbers
clearly and also whether um uh I mean it
is to investors others or or
stakeholders which are our members. So
the other side from my past experience
was uh also the energy. Uh when I when I
worked at Massport, we
Massport purchased its own electricity
and natural gas. So we had uh a small
portfolio. It's about 30 millionish uh
dollar portfolio. So that it kind of
gave me experience with energy
procurement hedging reporting and uh and
also working within the New England uh
energy market. So after Henry mentioned
after massport I spent a little bit uh
of time at the New Hampshire Electric
Co-op and and I felt that was a really
good experience. It provided me with
firsthand appreciation of the
memberowned utility model. that was
something uh wasn't familiar with in the
past. So uh which uh it just shows how
differently you know some of the
organization really think about
accountability and service and when you
move from uh when you think about it
from the public sector side like
massport itself when I work there they
are self uh funded so they rely on the
revenue they generate and I just felt
that there is a connection between uh
massport CPC&H or uh the co-op where
where I spent a little bit of time. So
um when if I had to pick a pick really
one thing that's most relevant to this
role I I I would say that I spent years
working on organizations that have to be
uh financially self sustained and
transparent and able to explain some of
these numbers. And I feel that um this
is where this is really where um like
the ex the past experience with the
current role kind of go together and I
just uh and and that's really like the
mindset that I feel I'm bringing to CBC
to just having that public um
public experience in finance and also
having the uh thinking about you know we
are accountable to our members and and
our uh partners. So um and I'll leave it
there. Thank you.
>> Awesome. Thanks, Rashidita. Um yeah,
it's great great sort of overview and um
yeah, we certainly appreciate the
alignment. You're coming sort of ready
in that public member service um mindset
um which I think maybe applies on Bill's
side as well. But yeah, Bill, why don't
you jump in and if you could tell us
anything you'd like to share about your
career path that brought you to CPC&H
and any experiences that you think are
going to be valuable in this new
position.
>> Sure. So, I have an engineering
background. I uh really enjoyed uh
building assets uh and I've done that in
a lot of different roles in a lot of
different places. Um so I understand
where the the power is coming from. Um,
you know, that experience gave me a very
good foundation in in understanding all
the ways that you convert one form of
energy into another. Um, primarily
electricity. Um, and you know, I worked
uh as I was developing uh power plants,
I really got interested in the financing
of them as well because I found that
even if you have a great idea and a
great project, it doesn't happen unless
you uh you can finance it and it makes
economic sense. So, you know, I I went
to business school um was working on um
financial models for power projects um
and and helping them get the funding
they needed uh to to to be developed. Um
and from there I got uh uh interested in
energy efficiency as well because you
know energy efficiency is kind of the
least cost way to to meet a a power need
um uh if you do it correctly. Um
uh and and from there I got involved in
public power. Um so public power first
with the um Massachusetts Municipal
Wholesale Leard Company um which is sort
of similar to uh uh CPC&H um but they
they primarily serve municipal entities
um uh and uh you know they they own
power plants, they own batteries, they
uh owned wind farms, uh solar plants uh
that that supply to all of their um
members. Um and then uh from there I I
actually wanted to see what it was like
I got intrigued by public power because
it was very it wasn't it was lightly
regulated because uh uh because it is
locally governed um so uh you know you
do have the control over the the
organization but you do not have uh
ownorous regulation. Um and uh from
there I was I was working at Reading
Municipal Light Department in in
Massachusetts. Um they're about they're
very [clears throat] similar in size to
the amount of power that they consume.
It's about 175 uh megawatt peak globe.
So it's not it's CPCH is a bit bigger um
but not you know an order of magnitude
bigger. Um, and from there I was
recruited into Rochester Public
Utilities of Minnesota. Um, they're also
a municipal entity. Um, very integrated
with the city of Rochester, uh, home of
Mayo Clinic. Um, and there the load is
is higher. It's about 300 megawatts. Um,
not a great load factor because the Mayo
Clinic is basically open um, they're the
biggest customer and they're basically
open 9 to5 Monday through Friday. Um but
you know again it's a a very similar
scale to um uh to CPC&H as far as their
the the supply of energy they need to
procure. Um and that includes Rex. I'
I've built their um their 100% net
renewable plan uh resource plan uh that
will be in effect in 2030. Um and that
relies on some battery projects as well
as um traditional peaking assets and um
contracts with uh wind farms that are
about 250 megawatts worth of of wind
generation. But with that um the
opportunity to to to go to CPC&H
um you know it it keeps me in the public
power space. Um I really believe in the
the model because um I I've said this
before that uh that uh in investor owned
utilities the uh the you have a a
tension between the investors and the um
customers. Um and in public power that
tension does not exist because the
customers are the stakeholders um the
only stakeholders. So, um it there's no
tension between who, you know, it's not
a zero- sum game. You try to get the
lowest cost. Um we're nonprofit um and
the idea is to deliver value to to the
customers. Um [snorts] and with that,
you know, we can look at an all of the
above strategy and meeting the um you
know, resource needs of of the towns
that we serve. you know, and I I really,
you know, uh I really uh believe in the
model and you know, I I know I know you
must as well because you're you're
volunteering for the forward uh and uh
you know, help deliver the energy to
your communities and I'm I'm glad to be
here and glad to be a part of that.
>> Awesome. Thanks, Bill. Um appreciate you
sharing all that and giving that context
and background. Um, and I'll pivot back
to Rashidita and just ask, you know,
you've been here a couple months, two
months or so, and, you know, gotten
oriented to our committees, our board,
dove dove in and, um, sort of are
whipping us into shape with our
financial policies and controls. So, we
appreciate all of that. Um, and as you
get, you know, uh, acclimated, wonder if
there's anything that you're most
excited to dig into or help strengthen,
uh, as director of finance.
>> Yeah, thank you. There is um when I
started the first thing I wanted to look
into was the um the uh
internal financial controls and not that
there weren't any but I wanted to that
was my focus point just because we work
uh the plan is to um look into financing
options in the future and and to be able
to do that you'll need to have better
financial controls policies and that was
kind of my first uh step as you know. So
I developed a a number of uh policies
and um the the other thing as as a look
um ahead from now like the the first
thing that comes to mind as next it will
be member uh reporting. I just feel that
uh everyone uh needs to to be able to
pick up whatever you know like the
number reports that we provide and be
able to uh find the answers that they
have without having to reach out to
anyone. Uh they should be able to
clearly see what they are contributing,
what they are receiving and how costs
are are allocated. So, uh, I feel that
there is progress and and there is still
more work to be done and and honestly
that's one of the areas I'm I'm most
excited about and and I care about. Um,
the second one I would say is the
financing. So we started with the
policies with the reporting and I feel
that financing is is is very important
for because we are moving from a startup
organization to uh a mature growing
organization and I feel that um
financing should be uh as just as
important as the internal controls. So
we purchase power on behalf of our
members and and with that requires um
working capital. So the cost of that
capital ultimately affects what the
members pay. So it's important uh that
we are financing the organization as
efficiently as possible and and that
also uh the part of the role that feels
most familiar to me because of my
experience in and and the bond market
and uh the the planning whether it's a
budget and so I just felt that draws
directly on my background uh in public
finance. Um the other
the other thing that comes to mind is
the budget. So I know we're currently uh
building the 2027 budgets and and that's
uh an opportunity for us to uh make sure
our resources are aligned with the
coalition's priority and also future
growths. So
um it all comes back to one idea you
know like the community power only works
if if members can clearly see how how uh
how it's working. So basically like the
uh it's part of what keeps the model
strong over long time long term and and
that's one of my goals is just make sure
that and the financial controls the
finance and the uh the budgeting and and
yeah just being as transparent as uh as
possible.
>> Excellent. Yeah. Well said all around
and excited to work with you on all all
those fronts. So thank you Mashidita. Uh
and yeah, Bill, sort of same question to
you. you you haven't been here quite as
long and I don't think it's been it's
been maybe 10 not quite 10 business days
or so but um yeah uh you've sort of
drink in front of the fire hose meeting
with the power operations team a number
of the different staff departments and
whatnot and uh yeah is there anything
you'd like to share about areas you're
most excited to dig into learn more
about or work on as you uh get
established here? Yeah. So, I've jumped
in uh running. Um it is uh um you know,
I know Rashidita has done a great job in
putting those policies together. So, it
is a a good start to see that that uh
that those policies are in place now. Um
uh and you know, my role uh is to also
help um control risk which will
ultimately affect our financing costs.
So we've got to be sure you know Rashid
and I were
important part of the team in keeping
you know the the costs uh to members as
low as possible. U making sure where uh
we have a robust um source of energy and
you know identify opportunities where
where um you know we can reduce cost um
and also contain the risk in a um in a
uh prudent manner. Um uh you know I I
understand that uh you know the there is
strength in numbers right the more scale
that we have by serving members the um
the more uh ability we have to find the
best uh sources of energy and to to
deliver those and contract those uh as
necessary. Also, I'm looking forward to,
you know, leaning on my um my uh early
career in uh doing some projects where
it makes sense that can deliver value,
whether it be, you know, batteries or
other um projects that we can we can uh
build and own ourselves. Um that way,
you know, it it cuts out um some of the
uh the additional costs when you bring
in a third party. Um so um you know it's
probably early uh now to do that but
I'll be looking for opportunities for
that um you know working my network of
um of um uh developers um and equipment
suppliers to see what we can uh where
where we might be able to work with with
your communities to you know site some
projects and also um provide some
additional benefits like you know
batteries can be used for um to um um to
power shelter during uh long outages uh
things like that where we can really uh
have a dual use for those kinds of
assets that can provide additional
resiliency to the communities. Um, but I
think that's the great nexus of of uh
what we're doing where uh we're uh
joining together in order to uh benefit
all
with that. I
>> Yeah. No, that's that's great. And then
sort of understanding, you know, there's
sort of like Rashidita talked about,
there's some fundamentals on the um the
controls, the financing, the budgeting,
the reporting, things of that nature.
And as we sort of become more of that
mature institution over time and then
with that comes the ability to finance
and develop these projects. But maybe
Bill you could just elaborate a little
bit. I understand I think with um MWec
in Massachusetts you were involved in
building some battery projects for
municipal utilities and maybe you could
just tell us a little bit about your
experience there.
>> Yeah sure. So, um it really shows the
the benefit of of joint action with
communities joined together. We were
able to um to run an RFP for batteries.
Um and we were able to yield much better
results than we would have uh if each
individual town had gone out for their
own because we were able to do a uh one
procurement. um and it presented an
opportunity to these battery companies
that uh that not a single town would
bring to them. So by um by combining uh
forces and uh procurement we were able
to get very advantageous uh contracts
for batteries with with customers where
uh the municipal utilities um and they
were able to do that to reduce their
costs. um they were participating in the
um the ISO market um so that they were
meeting the capacity obligation that um
that these members had um and with that
they were able to u monetize uh and
reduce their energy bills overall. So it
was you know I look forward I know it's
a slightly different model because the
the infrastructure is owned by um by the
by the investor owned utilities
primarily and and um the co-op um but we
there are ways that we can enter the
such assets into the market and take
advantage of the benefits they deliver.
>> Great. Um, so I could keep asking
questions, but we've done about 25
minutes and I'm happy to maybe open up
the floor. We've got folks from a number
of different towns and we welcome you to
unmute or turn on your camera if you'd
like. I think it'd be uh, you know, I
know Bill and Rashida are happy to meet
you all and also hear from you about
your sort of perspectives and interests.
But do we have anything in the chat or
do we have any anyone on the line
curious to make any comments or ask any
questions they'd like to have us
discuss?
And I have a couple more I could a
question I could go back to if if
need be.
>> Nothing in the chat at the moment.
Um Carol Shy here. Sorry I couldn't
figure out how to raise my hand. Welcome
on board both of you. I look forward to
meeting you both. We've really needed
your skill sets and it's a a welcome uh
step forward. So thank you very much.
And uh Bill, maybe we should talk about
IIT. I was a director of materials for
IIT Research Institute for a while, but
not in Chicago.
>> Oh, okay. Great.
>> Thank you, Carol.
>> Chris, you turned your camera on, but
maybe that was just to show your face.
Oh, you're on mute.
>> Just being friendly. I think you both
will represent the organization very
well. So pleased to have you on board.
>> Thanks, Chris.
>> Hey, Bruce.
>> I I also am having a hard time figuring
out how to raise my hands. Um, I had a
question for Bill. Um, Pet Peter Burrow
is about to make use of our
discretionary reserve fund, which will
total about $29,000
by the time this current rate period
ends in a in a month or at least the the
the reporting of it comes through. One
of our projects is um putting solar and
batteries on a fire station that's being
constructed right now and potentially
taking advantage of the municipal demand
response program from Eversource.
So, I'm trying to help my town figure
out the mix between solar and batteries
and participation in demand response. Um
is this something that we could have a
talk about at some point coming up?
>> Yeah. Yeah, absolutely we could. um that
it it makes a lot of sense and I think
um um I'll have to uh get up to speed on
Eversourc's demand response that what
the the outlines of the program are, but
I think um that'll be pretty easy.
>> Yeah, for for for a project it's a 50%
match up to 200,000.
>> So
>> that's that's good.
>> Yeah, it is. Um the only issue right now
is um I have to check to make sure that
a fire station would qualify for it. It
has been emergency shelters, but
Eversource is trying to expand it to
fire stations. So, I haven't
>> heard if it's succeeded in that yet.
Anyway, I look forward forward to that.
And Rashida, the demand response um
program um with this will be the first
time a town has actually been um
accessing that. So, um breaking new
ground and I'm I'm glad that you're on
the other end of that.
>> Yeah. No, thank you. I appreciate that.
Yeah.
Oh, and also, um, I'm thrilled that you
both are here because you're you're
serving a a need that that we have and,
uh, it looks like it's a great match for
for both of you and us. Thanks.
>> Thank you, Bruce. [clears throat] I'll
look forward to working with you on
that.
>> I I'll be in um the second week of of
September for some committee meetings.
Maybe we can make an appointment.
>> Oh, sure.
>> Oh, hi.
>> Hi. I'm delighted that both of you are
here and I'm very excited to hear your
focus on communities um and that you
have experience and your perspective on
it. So, welcome.
>> Thank you, John.
>> Thank you.
And as Bill and Rashidita are learning
their acronyms, MOEC chair is the member
outreach and engagement committee. So
Joelen chairs that committee and works
closely with the member services team on
all things member engagement. And I
think you're also on the projects
program committee, Joelen.
>> Yeah.
>> Yes.
>> Nice.
>> We'll be talking a lot. Yeah.
>> Bill Rashidita, were there any other
sort of comments or things you wanted to
share with the membership?
>> Um, well, like the the project that
Bruce brought up, I'm happy to work with
any of the communities on similar
projects um uh both in helping access
the the Eversource program or if it's uh
Unatil or or the co-op. Um and then you
know working on the economics so that
you can justify the investment and kind
of prioritize where you're taking these
funds and and deploying them so that
they bring the most value to the to your
community. So, um,
>> yeah, I can add to that. I I have, uh,
experience in grants, so I'm not very
familiar with this specific program, but
I've, uh, filed a number of grants
applications. I'm very familiar with
cost sharing and and all federal um, uh,
[clears throat]
compliance basis. So, I'm happy to take
a look at any any if needed. So,
>> excellent.
All right. Well, it is a a beautiful
summer Friday, so we know we don't need
to we don't need to hold folks too long
if there's no further questions or
comments, but appreciate people coming
and the discussion that we have had. And
we're I'm very excited to have Bill and
Michelle on the team as are the rest of
the staff. So, um yeah, hope everybody
has a great weekend and we'll we'll see
you next time.