Central Vermont Public Service Corp: A Better Brand of BS

Central Vermont Public Service Corp (CV) is an interesting utility. Though I don't own it right now, I've owned it on and off over the years. Like most Vermont companies, they are pretty innovative when it comes to the environment. They currently have an interesting program around recycling cow manure to make electricity. Farmers are paid a premium and the earth is saved from methane.

To create energy, manure and other farm waste are held in a sealed concrete tank at the same temperature as a cow's stomach, 101 degrees. Bacteria digest the volatile components, creating methane while killing pathogens and weed seeds. The methane, which is roughly 20 times more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere, fuels an engine/generator, and the electricity is fed onto the CVPS electric distribution system.

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CVPS Cow Power Website

CV is a slow growing company, with p/e of 13.5, and a dividend of over 4%. Central Vermont PS is not cheap but not expensive either. I'm underweight utilities because I think long-term interest rates will eventually go higher, hurting the sector. CVPS is small and subject to event risks like winter freezes. But I may add a small amount of this little power distributor/generator back into my portfolio. I like making a little money off some real "Bull Stuff" and hot gases.

CV 1-yr chart:

Disclosures and Confessions: I do not own CV but may buy it in the next few days depending on price. I have traded CV in the last two years. I have worked, advised and volunteered at Coutts-Moriarty Camp in Derby Vermont. The smell from the nearby dairy farms could be quite overwhelming at points and I often wished that all that those odorous gifts of our bovine friends could have been put to a better purpose than clogging my olfactory senses. However, no cowpower was forthcoming and I did not use electricity generated by cow power.