Posted on 06/17/2022 6:16:52 AM PDT by woodbutcher1963
MANCHESTER, N.H. — New Hampshire officials are warning residents to prepare for higher utility bills, with electricity rates expected to rise this year and one utility proposing more than a 100% increase.
According to the Office of the Consumer Advocate, several factors are at work in driving up energy costs. One is that New England heavily relies on natural gas, which means our electric bills in the region are tethered to the global market, which has been shaken by the war in Ukraine.
"Unfortunately, I have to deliver the bad news that consumers can expect some pretty drastic increases in their electric bills," said consumer advocate Don Kreis.
Kries said a general increase of nearly 50% is expected.
"So basically, if your bill is $100, you can look at paying $150, more or less," he said.
That price will depend on factors such as consumption and which provider a household uses. Some utility companies are filing rate changes with the Public Utilities Commission this week.
Liberty Utilities has asked to increase its rate from 11.11 cents per kilowatt-hour to 22.22 cents.
"At Liberty, the cost of delivering energy to homes and businesses remains steady, but the increased wholesale cost of energy unfortunately means the rates must increase to reflect this global shift," the utility said in a written statement. "As a regulated utility, Liberty will not benefit financially from this increase."
The utility said it has a program that allows customers to spread payments out over the course of a year, and it noted that households that previously didn't qualify for financial assistance programs may now be eligible.
Eversource has requested an increase from the current rate of 10.67 cents to 22.566 cents. The company said that adds about $70 per month for the average customer.
A big portion of the electric rate has to do with the supply rate, according to William Hinkle, of Eversource.
"That cost is directly passed through to our customers at exactly what we pay," he said. "The company does not earn a profit from this."
Unitil, which is on a different filing time period, is reporting a decrease in its rates, with customers saving about $42.
"Unitil is just coming off of our winter period, which runs from December to May," said Alec O'Meara, of Unitil. "Our customers saw a decrease in the supply rate from the winter months to the summer of about 7.5 cents per kilowatt-hour. Those rates will be in effect from June 1 until the end of November."
Looking ahead to the winter, it's unclear what will happen. The consumer advocate said these rates may be the worst of it, but given the global market for fuel, there's a chance for increased costs in the future.
related story:
https://www.wmur.com/article/executive-council-puc-increase-electricity-rates/40303145
Be sure to buy an EV!!!
Got our electric bill yesterday. We are on levelized billing so we pay the same amount every month.
The bill shows a bar graph comparing this year with last year.
The bar for June of this year is ominously twice as high as the bar for last year, and the month is only half over.
Have no idea if it’s real or an artifact.
End the boomeranging suicide sanctions immediately.
Isn’t that a USAGE graph?
Meaning you have used 2X the KHW as last June?
these electricity price increases are in no way related to the democrat party’s efforts to destroy the conventional fuel industry
that is all
MinTru
2020 Presidential Election - New Hampshire
Nominee:
Joe Biden 52.71%
Donald Trump 45.36%
Oh, and health care costs are going up between 15% and 30%.
Isn’t this build back better stuff grand?
Stupid should hurt.
From 2017, before CoupFlu, so I’m betting the percentage has gone way up. Why some Granite Staters won’t care...
https://www.nhbr.com/the-economic-impact-of-second-homes-in-new-hampshire/
Start cranking up the COAL fired plant in Bow, NH that they typically only run during peak demand times(July & Jan).
The problem for Eversource and most other utilities is that they based their plan on Natural gas prices from a few years ago when gas was cheaper than anything else except Hydro.
Natural gas was so cheap a couple years ago that it was less money to produce electricity than the Seabrook Nuclear plant/KWH.
When Trump was in office there was a glut of LNG. The fear at the time was that it couldn’t be sold because we had too much. And now? Democrats.
The hysterical John Kerry is out to make it even worse.
Not really
Futures prices for gas at the end of 2022 at the Everett LNG terminal in Boston have been as high as $30 per million BTU
At the same time, only 300 miles away, in the gas fields of Pennsylvania, natural gas was selling at a discount to CME futures, at about $7 per mm BTU
why the difference? Because NY and MA refuse to build a pipeline - so they spend 4X more for natural gas - which must be imported from the Caribbean.
It’s been over a hundred degrees somedays lately, so maybe.
We haven’t changed the thermostat settings since last year.
We moved from Seattle to a VERY low cost of living rural area of Kentucky. We got out of debt, etc. The one exposure is power rates. IF they did something like they did in California a few years ago, we’d turn off the AC and do a lot of cooking via the microwave and fire pit. Fortunately we have a wood burning stove and 25 acres of trees, with a lot of wood just “laying on the ground” ready to be harvested.
But Power rates could hit us if something nuts happened. Mainly it would dig into what I have said since I moved here: “I wouldn’t have moved here if God had not given us air conditioning.”
Electric Rates By State:
https://www.chooseenergy.com/electricity-rates-by-state/
March 2021-March 2022 ALL states had an increase in electric prices with the exceptions of North Dakota, Wyoming and Oregon, which actually went down (but just a tiny bit.)
Maine is the highest with a 40% increase in ONE YEAR! Yikes!
Across the board, Electricity is UP 8.8% for the USA.
Let’s Go, Brandon! *SPIT*
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