Posted on 09/24/2022 10:23:05 AM PDT by Capt. Tom
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
As Europe careens towards an energy crisis this winter, a Baker administration official said that Massachusetts is in a position more similar to Europe than to other states, and put residents here on notice that the cost of heating their homes and keeping the lights on is likely to skyrocket here this winter as the price of natural gas soars.
“Everybody should be aware that, this winter, Massachusetts is more like Europe than we are from other states because we’re at the end of our national gas pipeline system,” Judy Chang, undersecretary of energy and climate solutions in the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, said during a meeting Tuesday morning.
About half of New England’s electric generation is powered by natural gas or liquid natural gas, commodities that are sold on the global market and sensitive to things like an ongoing land war between Russia and Ukraine. The Northeast’s relative overreliance on natural gas is going to mean budgetbusting electric bills for many households this winter and state officials are reportedly working with federal counterparts to prepare for this winter.
“This winter will be, at best, a very high-cost energy winter,” Chang said, adding that the Baker administration has “been working with our federal partners in developing a plan for New England’s winter.” (Charlie Baker is the RINO governor of Massachusetts)
“So everybody should conserve. Everybody who has close friends, please tell them conserve ... I think it’s useful for everyone to be aware of that, and spread the word for conservation as much as possible,” she said.
Attempts to learn more about the state and federal efforts to address winter energy concerns were unsuccessful. Troy Wall, the director of communications for EEA, did not acknowledge News Service requests to speak with Chang or another EEA official on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Chang mentioned that the state’s Department of Energy Resources was involved in the effort. DOER External Affairs Manager Lauren Diggin said no one from DOER was available to speak with a News Service reporter Wednesday and the agency did not answer emailed questions.
On Wednesday, National Grid announced many of its 1.3 million electric customers in Massachusetts are going to get eye-popping bills when winter rolls around thanks to the price of natural gas being “significantly higher this winter due to global conflict, inflation and high demand.”
Residential National Grid electric customers on basic service who use 600 kilowatt-hours of power will see their monthly electric bills jump from $179 in the winter 2021-2022 season to approximately $293 for the winter 2022-2023 season -- a 64% increase according to the company and its rate filing with the Department of Public Utilities.
“We know winter isn’t far away, so we’re encouraging and making it easier for our customers to take action now and letting them know that we are here to help,” Helen Burt, National Grid’s chief customer officer, said in a press release highlighting its “Winter Customer Savings Initiative” that will seek to help customers reduce energy use to save money and connect with available energy assistance programs.
National Grid moves to its winter rates each Nov. 1 and said they are generally higher “due to the high demand for natural gas.” The utility said it buys electricity on behalf of its customers through the wholesale power market following a process approved by regulators and established 20 years ago.
“That process has served customers well over the years and provides flexibility for unforeseen events, like limited supplier response to solicitations. But things have fundamentally changed,” Burt said. “Today, under a sustained, high market price environment, it is challenging to maintain affordable prices. Given that, we think it’s a good time to work with our regulators and other stakeholders to review the process and electricity supply dynamics in the region, with an eye toward reducing price volatility and maintaining a secure, reliable and resilient energy system for the future.”
While some homes use electricity to power lights, appliances and hot water heaters, there were 434,761 Massachusetts households (16.4%) that used electricity as their primary heating fuel in 2020, according to DOER’s Energy Policy Planning & Analysis Division. Space heating, the division said, is “the largest part of household energy costs.”
For people who heat their homes with oil especially, the sharp price increases are already starting to show up. The average price of a gallon of home heating oil in Massachusetts was $4.73 the week of Sept. 6, up 66% from the $2.85 per gallon average measured a year prior, according to DOER’s biweekly survey of fuel prices.
Fuel oil or kerosene was the primary heating fuel for 667,484 or just more than 25% of Massachusetts homes in 2020.
Every megawatt of wind or solar REQUIRES 1.14 megawatts of backup generating capacity to back it up. And this has to be generators that can spool up quickly, because wind/solar is so unpredictable. This means GAS or hydro. Nothing else can do that. Since there’s not much hydro in New England, GAS it must be. But a lot of New England homes depend on GAS for heat, which means shortages of GAS, which means high prices. They voted for this, so I;m not sorry. Very much not sorry that I fled Massachusetts in 1977, never to return.
You live by the sword, you die by the sword
Didn’t know MA was heavily dependent on natural gas.
Surprise! They not only want to bankrupt the governmwnr, they want to bankrupt each individual as well.
Act now and order your plane or bus load of warm South Americans.
Arriba Mis amigos
“So everybody should conserve. Everybody who has close friends, please tell them to conserve. I think it’s useful for everyone to be aware of that, and spread the word for conservation as much as possible...”
Not until I see my ‘betters’ curbing energy use in their huge mansions, leave their aircraft on the ground, take in the extra 30 or so illegals that could fit in ANY one of their MULTIPLE homes for warmth this winter, and Pelosi unplugs her ice cream freezer for good!
Not a single politician will be cold, hungry or inconvenienced in ANY way this coming winter. Not. A. One.
If rates go up, we’ll conserve.
Because I begrudge Deep State and the companies that enable them every damn dime of my money.
Big reason why I’ve been knitting like a fiend. :-)
If Massachusetts has large heating bills its because the government wants it that way. They are right next to Pennsylvania and Ohio that both have lots of Natural Gas that can be fed into a pipeline right now. But if our government says no, its not Putin to blame. Europe’s gas prices should have nothing to do with Massachusetts Nat Gas prices. This has nothing to do with economics. It has everything to do with rationing.
We always have, but just because it’s the right thing to do - and we’re CHEAP!
Our propane fill this season is DOUBLE what it was last year for the same amount of propane.
Luckily, both of us like it cooler in the house than warmer.
And, you can always throw another quilt and/or dog on the bed for some more body heat, LOL!
Why would I care if Massholes freeze this winter so long as we get our pretext for a nuclear holocaust. Priorities are priorities.
Us right wingers in Mass. will have to bear the brunt of these WOKE policies that are catching up with our state.
We wanted to build 50 years ago, an oil refinery, we wanted to build A pipeline, we voted for Trump, all to no avail.
NOW, once again, we will take it on the chin. -Tom
PS I love the ocean and the fishing here, and I am not moving.
Yep. Dane and Milwaukee Counties try their hardest to ruin an otherwise awesome state, a great place to live, and easy way of life here in Wisconsin.
I’ve never been to Maine, other than a stopover in the airport on the way to Germany.
I have a feeling that once I visit, I might not leave. :)
Well, I just learned something new! Thank you.
I’m a if-it’s-yellow-let-it-mellow kinda gal...
like candlelight and make my own beeswax candles...
wash dishes by hand...
have a clothesline and use it...
prefer books to the book tube.
We also own a very small home which is cheap to heat and cool.
Needless to say we have a very small footprint.
But I’ll shrink it further.
I love a challenge!
there goes the dining room furniture
But the enviro whackos and NIMBYs stopped the power line projects in New Hampshire and Maine.
The same enviro whackos who claim they want clean energy.
We COULD have had abundant, fairly clean nuclear power had Seabrook II been allowed to be built.
But the enviro whackos stopped that.
Bonus video: Aerogel Superinsulation Blowtorch Demo: Hershey’s Kiss
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sw1tNeJ0Rw
They put aerogel in mountain climbing boots, because a climber complained that his feet were always cold. When he tried them out, they noticed that he really rushed to get to the top. Then he tore off his boots and his feet were both very red.
The first production call for it is by NASA, that wants to use it to line satellites.
We could be twins, LOL! But, what? No composting? ;)
Our house is much bigger than needed, but it’s been in the family a very long time, so not easy to part with.
We don’t heat/cool all of it unless we have guests.
” Let the Yankee’s freeze, in the dark!” Dr. Robert Mcfarlane
Haven’t heard from Capt. Tom since this post, hope everything is O.K.
Maybe he’s on a cruise?
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