By the authority vested in me, pursuant to part II, article 44 of the New Hampshire Constitution, on July 16, 2009, I vetoed HB 443, an act relative to underground storage facility operator training and relative to requirements for guaranteed price plans and prepaid contracts for petroleum.

I appreciate the general court’s well-intentioned effort to strengthen protections for consumers of heating oil in this bill. I am concerned, however, that this bill may contain unintended consequences for consumers that will impact their ability to negotiate the best price possible for heating oil. Under current law, a prepaid or capped-price contract for heating oil cannot exceed a term of one heating oil season, and these contracts can be offered no earlier than January of the year in which the heating oil season begins. This bill would allow prepaid or capped-price contracts to be offered no earlier than May of the year in which the heating oil season begins. The proposed legislation would give consumers four months less time each year in which to enter into prepaid or capped-price contracts.

This proposed legislation was introduced in an effort to protect consumers who, on some occasions in the past, have paid monies in advance for home heating oil, and then did not receive the heating oil because the oil dealer went out of business before the next heating oil season. Nevertheless, I am not convinced that this bill is the proper solution to address the problem. I also question whether we should limit the pre-buy period between January and May. Many residential and business consumers of heating oil have indicated that, by shortening the window to offer these contracts, the proposed legislation will materially impact their ability to obtain the best price possible for heating oil. I believe this issue warrants further consideration by the general court. For this reason, I am vetoing HB 443.

I fully support establishing requirements for training operators of underground petroleum storage facilities as set forth in the first two sections of this bill.