By Rick Green
THE KEENE SENTINEL
Eversource told the N.H. Public Utilities Commission on Thursday that it wants to decrease its electric rate by 10.3 percent.
This new rate, which would apply to about 530,000 customers, would go into effect in February and last for six months.
Eversource asked the PUC in a written filing to approve by Dec. 15 a new rate of 20.2 cents per kilowatt hour. The present rate is 22.6 cents.
It doubled in August amid record-high prices for natural gas, the primary fuel for generating electricity in the Northeast.
In a written statement, Eversource Executive Vice President Penni Conner acknowledged that consumers have been hard hit.
“Our customers in New Hampshire have already faced the unprecedented impact of all-time high energy supply costs earlier than most this year, and we know how frustrated they are as rising costs for other basic, daily needs persist throughout the economy as well,” Conner said.
“While this decrease in electric supply costs is encouraging, global market volatility continues to keep prices near all-time highs and pose significant challenges for our customers.”
The average Eversource residential electric customer in New Hampshire who uses 600 kilowatt hours of power each month could see a decrease of about 7 percent — or $14.07 monthly — on the supply portion of their bill under the proposed rate reduction, the company said in a news release.
Don Kreis, New Hampshire’s consumer advocate, said Thursday that even under the new rate, a typical electric bill would still be 43 percent higher than it was this time last year.
“But the news could have been much, much worse,” he said. “I was really worried that the price would escalate even further.”
He said there has been a slight downward trend in wholesale electricity-market prices in the past few weeks. These prices are volatile and respond to global events and even to forecasts of a relatively mild winter this year, Kreis said.
The utility does not earn a profit on the cost of electricity. Customers are charged what Eversource pays the companies that produce the power.
Next year, the more than 11,000 people in Keene served by Eversource will have the option of participating in Keene Community Power, a city-operated group that will purchase power on residents’ behalf, said Mari Brunner, Keene senior planner.
Brunner said this program could begin as early as April, with the goal of offering an electrical rate below what’s offered by Eversource, which would continue to deliver the electricity and manage the billing.
She said no such community power program has been launched yet in New Hampshire, but the PUC has approved plans to do so for Keene, Walpole, Lebanon, Enfield and Exeter.
Kreis said upward pressure on Northeast power rates is attributable in part to its significant dependence on natural gas and a world market that has seen the price of this fuel increase due to supply disruptions associated with the war in Ukraine.
Also, there is a relative lack of natural gas pipeline capacity in the region, which forces a reliance on liquified natural gas (LNG) delivered by ship. There are no U.S.-flagged, liquified natural gas carrier ships, and federal law prohibits a foreign ship from carrying LNG from one U.S. port to another, Kreis said.
Governors in the Northeast have asked the White House to waive this law, called the Jones Act, for deliveries of LNG in the region, but the maritime industry opposes this effort, he said.
This leads to LNG for the region coming by ship from places such as Trinidad and Tobago, according to Kreis.
Over the long run, the Northeast could improve availability and price for electricity by importing hydroelectric power from Canada, developing offshore wind capacity, utilizing more solar power and maximizing energy efficiency, he said.
However, there was significant public opposition to the Northern Pass project, which would have brought hydropower into the region from Quebec. Likewise, there has been opposition in some areas to natural gas pipeline construction.
Meanwhile, power demands will increase as more cars are powered by electricity, Kreis said.
New Hampshire’s Community Action Agencies, which in Keene is Southwestern Community Services (603-352-7512), have programs that can help those in need with the costs of fuel and electricity.
The N.H. Public Utilities Commission has jurisdiction over utilities for issues such as rates, quality of service, finance, accounting and safety.
Rick Green can be reached at [email protected] or 603-355-8567.
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