PLAINFIELD — From sky high energy prices to arguments about the state’s transition to renewables, candidates for the New Hampshire Legislature face a litany of energy related issues heading into the November general election.

Upper Valley Democrats and Republicans are in agreement that business-as-usual is no longer a sustainable energy strategy, but their viewpoints diverge when it comes to forging a path forward.

Margaret Drye, a Plainfield Republican, is running for the newly drawn Sullivan 7 seat in the New Hampshire House. Knowing that they’ll need to shoulder the price of energy on top of already heavy gasoline and food costs, many New Hampshire residents are anxious about opening their fuel bills this winter, Drye said. She applauded the passage of HB 2023 in September, which extends energy aid to low-and moderate-income families. “But it should be considered temporary while we try to address the supply and price problems.”

She looks at energy as a “three-legged stool” that requires supply to be efficient, reliable and affordable.

“If you don’t get any one of these things, it all topples,” she said. “Especially as we’re trying to transition to renewables, we have to go carefully. For everything you take away, you have to find a reliable substitute.”

Jason Bourne, a Democrat from Cornish, is running opposite Drye for the seat in the new district, which includes Charlestown, Cornish, Newport, Plainfield and Unity. Bourne wants to incentivize clean energy initiatives, such as expanding charging infrastructure for electric vehicles and making it easier for homeowners to adopt residential solar.

“This is where we can use the power of legislation to drive changes,” Bourne said. “I grew up in New Hampshire. I understand that there is a real aversion to regulations and incentives in the state. But I think the flip side of that is that (the Legislature) is failing to show leadership. We need to understand that we’re not just talking about cost basis alone — we’re promoting clean energy for the benefit of the environment and of climate.”

The distinction between Bourne’s emphasis on policy that incentivizes clean technology and Drye’s more immediate focus on the pocketbooks of New Hampshire residents isn’t surprising.

There is “quite a bit of daylight” between the way each party approaches energy issues, said Rep. Lex Berezhny, a Grafton Republican who serves on the House Science, Technology and Energy Committee.

“Republicans’ top priority is lower energy prices and grid reliability, with minimal subsidies,” Berezhny said, who is running for re-election against Democrat Catherine Mulholland for the Grafton District 8 seat. “Democrats’ top priority is to subsidize renewable energy and to reduce climate change.”

Rep. Lee Oxenham, a Plainfield Democrat, serves on the House committee with Berezhny. She supports more aggressive shift to cleaner energy in the state.

“If you want real change in Concord, you have to have a different majority in the Legislature and you need to have a different governor at the helm,” Oxenham said in an interview last month.

The Public Utilities Commission — staffed with members appointed by the governor — issues some of the biggest decisions regarding energy initiatives in New Hampshire, but the voting bodies in the Legislature still exert their own kind of sway.

“There are processes for correcting the Public Utilities Commission,” state Consumer Advocate Don Kreis said. “When we don’t like things the PUC does, we can shrug, we can file an appeal, or we can ask the Legislature to pass a bill.”

New Hampshire’s decade-long energy strategy released in July by the Department of Energy — which was created in 2021 by the Legislature, and then quickly filled with top officials from the governor’s office — throws this traditional back and forth between legislators and the PUC into question.

“New Hampshire should seek to foster an environment where new and emerging technologies can flourish by the value they may bring to the market, rather than through political preferences,” the report said. Wary of “ratepayer subsidization” becoming a “permanent component of any technology’s bottom line,” the strategy advises that government power to economically advantage one technology over another should be limited.

Still, when the rubber hits the road, this isn’t quite how things are operating in the Legislature. At an energy summit last month, Epping Republican Michael Vose, who chairs the House Science, Technology and Energy Committee, announced that he planned to introduce legislation to help revive four shuttered biomass power plants in northern New Hampshire through subsidies. However, Gov. Chris Sununu, responded that he would not support the measure. Vose’s statement — which contradicted the state’s energy strategy that recommends government intervention should be “technology neutral” — and Sununu’s swift renunciation are indicative of the complexities of making energy policy in New Hampshire.

“The governor does wield a veto and is not afraid of using it,” Kreis said. “The recipe for effective legislation is to read the state energy policy, and to try as best you can to make your idea fit within the four corners of the state energy strategy.”

Considering the traditionally hands-off approach of the state’s energy strategy, successfully pushing through energy-related initiatives in the Legislature requires a careful dance.

Richard Lobban, a Democrat from Bridgewater, N.H., running for the state Senate seat in redrawn District 7, supports rapid expansion of wind, solar, hydro and “conceivably even studying small scale nuclear power.” But he’s skeptical of the traction that these kinds of initiatives will get when it comes to passing legislation.

“In New Hampshire, progressive, holistic, scientific-driven bills don’t have a great track record,” Lobban said. “When you think that the top leadership does not have a forward-looking view for the near future, forget the far future, that’s a pretty big liability.”

John Sellers, a Bristol Republican running to represent District 18 in the State House, said that he doesn’t have a problem with pursuing renewable energy, even through subsidies, as long as they don’t “bankrupt” the citizens of New Hampshire.

“Subsidizing isn’t a permanent solution though. It’s just a band aid,” Sellers said. Ultimately, he sees common ground in the energy price crisis. “This is hurting all of us, and we need to do something,” he said. “The only ones that aren’t being hurt are the ones that are wealthy and well off.”

The average price for heating fuel in the state is a little under five dollars a gallon, 60% more than it was this time last year.

Frances Mize is a Report for America corps member. She can be reached at fmize@vnews.com or 603-727-3242.