The Vermont Public Service Board has signed off on the merger of the state's two largest utilities.

Governor Peter Shumlin says Vermont's top utility regulator should be appointed to another six-year term. James Volz has been chairman of the Public Service Board since 2005.

Over the next few weeks, state utility regulators will review several large projects that will shape the state's energy future. The projects include Vermont Yankee, a large wind energy development, and a new power deal from Hydro-Quebec.

A leading lawmaker wants to overhaul how utilities are regulated in Vermont by making the Public Service Board more politically accountable. Essex Orleans Republican Senator Vince Illuzzi says the current structure leaves the board in charge of state utility policy without enough input from the governor or the Legislature.

Senator Vince Illuzzi plans to introduce a bill to require Public Service Board members to be elected, rather than appointed.

We talk with Vermont author Woden Teachout about her new book, Capture the Flag: A Political History of American Patriotism.  Also, Sen. Illuzzi proposes electing Public Service Board members, and we visit Burlington's Ethan Allen Tower.

An influential legislator says he'll introduce a bill in the next legislative session calling for the Vermont Public Service Board to be elected rather than appointed, as the utility regulation panel is now.

Electric customers in Burlington could be paying more for power later this year.

A group of municipal electric utilities wants to revive a wind project on an abandoned military post in the Northeast Kingdom. The Vermont Public Power Supply Authority says its 13 municipal utilities need to replace some long-term contracts set to expire.

Vermont utility regulators have approved a wind project that could become the first in the country on national forest land.

Gov. Jim Douglas a new report by a state consultant points to the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant being able to operate reliably after its current license expires in 2012.

The Vermont Public Service Board has approved a rate increase of one-third of 1 percent for Central Vermont Public Service Corp., effective Jan. 1.

Officials with the state board that regulates utilities say they'll lock their office doors from now on after an anti-nuclear protest grew rowdy.

Here are the top stories at 7:30 a.m.: Vermont and nine other northeastern states this week will conduct the nation's first carbon auction, taking the same approach that curbed lake-killing acid rain; The Vermont Yankee nuclear plant wants permission from the state to operate for another 20 years. And it wants the Public Service Board to make that decision by this spring...

The Vermont Yankee nuclear plant wants permission from the state to operate for another 20 years. And it wants the Public Service Board to make that decision by this spring. Several groups involved in the case are asking for more time.  

The Public Service Board is beginning the process that will decide whether to authorize the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant to operate until 2032.

The Douglas Administration is raising questions about the financial stability of the new owners of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant. The administration says the new company will be financially weak because it will have to borrow billions of dollars. But the new questions are prompting critics to ask why the governor vetoed a recent Vermont Yankee bill. The bill would have required the new owners to guarantee it has enough money set aside to decommission the plant.

A former senior official with the Public Service Board has been barred from appearing before that panel on behalf of her new employer, a power transmission company. In its decision the board cited an ethics policy designed to prevent conflicts of interest.