Posted on 12/13/2014 8:51:44 PM PST by OddLane
SALEM, N.H. John York, who owns a small printing business here, nearly fell out of his chair the other day when he opened his electric bill.
For October, he had paid $376. For November, with virtually no change in his volume of work and without having turned up the thermostat in his two-room shop, his bill came to $788, a staggering increase of 110 percent. This is insane, he said, shaking his head. We cant go on like this.
For months, utility companies across New England have been warning customers to expect sharp price increases, for which the companies blame the continuing shortage of pipeline capacity to bring natural gas to the region.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Not true it is the elites in the Berkshires blocking the pipeline.
“Let them freeze if that’s what they want. “
Agree. Those folks can fix the problem at the ballot box if they want to. Glad that we have our own power grid down here in Texas. Plenty of pipe lines to transport gas too. God Bless Texas......
#1 I know you are from NH.
#2 To blame New England energy costs on one Governor and a power plant is foolish. I did reread your post I still say its horse sh t. Go back and see who opposed Seabrook, it looks like A who’s who of the 70’s occupy crowd.
New England has this problem of I want cheap power but not in my back yard. The newest is the northern pass and a pipeline in southern NH.
Well.... I’ve got a fireplace in my home down here in Texas. To use it I just turn on the gas and push the lighter button. Looks great, cost is cheap, and best of all, no muss and no fuss, heh, heh! God Bless Texas!
Yes, almost every house in the country has some kind of wood burning system. I put in a Harman pellet insert this year. This keeps my 2700 square ft house nice and warm. Almost nobody heats with electricity here in NH. It has been too expensive since the 1980s when they opened up the Seabrook nuclear plant and PSNH got a big rate increase. Most people outside of the cities heat their house with heating oil, like me or propane. There is not a natural gas line within 5 miles of my house. Oil is about 2.99/gallon and going down. However, I would use about 1000 gallons IF I just heated with oil. DO the math. My pellet stove should pay off in about 3 years.
I had a Jotul wood stove at my last house. I cut, split, staked, hauled and cleaned up after burning wood for 17 years. Too much work. Too much mess.
The reason why electricity rates are going up is the NIMBY effect. They have been proposing a electric transmission line from the northern border of NH south for a couple years. The folks up in the northern most county with a population of 25m people do not want the power lines to ruin their VIEW. A new 30 mile right of way is holding up a 1 billion dollar project that would bring Quebec hydropower south.
Now a couple companies have proposed a natural gas pipeline from PA east through New England. The first route through MA was voted down again by the NIMBY. So now they are proposing a route through southern NH. The border town of Hollis, NH already had a vote against it. Hollis is one of the most affluent towns in the state. It is far from liberal. It is actually a conservative town full of mostly wealthy people. It also still has a lot of open farmland. Probably the most in this area(better soil). Therefore, the new pipeline route goes to north of Hollis. FYI, the natural gas is needed to produce electricity primarily. It is not to heat homes. There is not enough capacity to even think about expanding gas lines outside the major cities.
I think this rate increase is just what these folks need as a wakeup call. Maybe when they get their new electric bill they will realize we do need that gas line and transmission line. Most people do vote with their wallet.
Merry Christmas
“For October, he had paid $376. For November, with virtually no change in his volume of work and without having turned up the thermostat in his two-room shop, his bill came to $788, a staggering increase of 110 percent.”
Generally it’s colder in November than October, even in Southern California (where October can be the warmest month of the year), so he shouldn’t be shocked at a higher bill. Maybe now he’ll pay attention that that annoying decimal number, the one that mentions “cents per kilowatt-hour”.
But what he should be PROUD of is that the nukes are GONE, coal is GONE, and now New England is getting its energy from “safer and cleaner” sources. Sure he may not have enough money for gasoline and food next year, but he can HOLD HIS HEAD HIGH, for he’s done his part to save the planet.
Thanks, never been to NH. Just wondered about the wood. North Texas never gets prolonged cold spells, but summers here can drive your budget into the stratosphere. The cost of my electricity has been stable over the last few years. So, I only have to control usage to reduce my monthly energy bill. Nothing like you guys have to contend with the extreme rates.
In Texas, natural gas is cheap and abundant. Over the last few years, the price of gas at the well head has been way down due to overproduction and a limited market. It’s a shame we can’t get more pipelines built to transport it up to the Northeast and other places where it is needed. We need the royalties and you need the gas.
Looks like you’re trapped in a nasty political situation and need to get some consumer groups involved to early retire some of your liberal politicians and change their energy policies. Down here in Texas we are putting out liberal democratic brush fires all the time hoping to keep Texas conservative and in the red column. Just don’t send us any of your liberals.
Wrong, it was two governors, Thopmson and Sununu, both conservative. Sununu was one of the consultants before he had a sniff if the corner office. The PTB helped themselves by putting him in office. His qualfication was he sat on the budget committee board in Salem. He was also my neighbor. I know the arrogant bastard well.
As for what you believe caused the costs to skyrocket, wrong again. It is easy the blame liberal protesters but the cost of money under Carter was primary. Secondly was poor construction management, primarily unions. Thirdly was the misunderstanding of the elasticity of demand. When the prices skyrocketed, necessarily because of covering the high costs of construction and overabundant capacity, people used less and power companies opted out. The plant had insufficient income. Went bankrupt. Courts caused a price fixing scheme which now forces NH to have the highest power costs in USA. It was never the protesters.
Really, you know NH? One of the largest nukes in USA sits about 20 miles as the crow flies from Salem. That is the real cost driver of the historically high rates in NH.
You are lucky. In Texas, because of the ground, you can bury pipes. In most of NH one needs to blast. Not economical to place NG pipes, and too few customers as well, for the most part.
The pipeline and NP will help, mostly MA and the investors.
Bow and Newington have been using less and less coal going back years now. Every time a wind turbine spins it costs you money. It is not supply although hydro might be cheaper, unless of course the courts say it can not in order to protect Seabrook investors.
As I replied to another FReeper earlier, we got plenty of natural gas in Texas to make it available to New England and other areas if the pipeline system were in place and the politics allowed it. BTW, I think the North Dakota oil fields are still burning off gas as a waste product because there is no market for it.
We’re starting to see some NIMBY here around Denton concerning well fracking. But Denton is a university town with a few liberal music, nursing, and artsy type students living on campus or in Denton whose liberal votes can influence the city politics. Anyway, there does not seem to be a major NIMBY movement anywhere else in the Metroplex that I am aware of.
I burn wood because I’m cheap and recycle the free usable wood cut from trees. I collect it over the summer and if I don’t have enough collected by winter, I buy a cord or two to make it through extreme cold winter days or an emergency power outage. My LOPI fireplace insert has paid for itself many times over.
Merry Christmas to you and yours...
Topped off my fuel tank in late October for $1,300. It should get me though late Fed. Usually pay 2,600 a year for fuel, not including electric bill.
You know I am from NH now, that I told you. You did not read the post I first wrote that you replied to. You could not have, to get it so wrong. The knee jerk reaction is always to blame some liberal for our troubles.
Who do you blame for the 1.1 trillion cromnibus bill? Occupy Wall Street or Wall Street?
I have lived, camped in, and studied in two of those six NE Libtard infested states, and travelled through the rest.
Teaching a NE Libtard is like teaching an ape to write.
I am not Jesus, therefore I do not have eternity, and won’t spend time on Libtards. Another reason not to attempt teaching NE Libtards is that I can’t even walk on water.
Simply not accepting brown-outs or rolling power outages so that the lives of NE Libtards can be saved from their self inflicted hypothermia WILL solve the Libtard issue.
After a significant number are allowed to die as a consequence of their votes, the survivors may be ready to revise their premises. Until such a die off occurs, the Libtards will continue to prove Churchill’s insight when he said that most men can trip over truth, get up, and hurry off as though nothing had happened.
Libtards listened to Obama who told them his energy policy would cause their energy costs “to skyrocket”. That time Obama told the truth. What Obama didn’t tell them is that as part of his plan to destroy America, he would force destruction of so many coal fired electric plants that there would NOT be any electricity if any part of an already overworked/aging energy sytem failed during an emergency. They still voted for Obama. Let them die for that rather than
depriving others of a single kilowatt.
Those who would empower destruction of America under the rubric of “transforming America” are as treasonous as Obama. Let me repeat: Not one kilowatt for the treasonous Libtards!”
After a massive hypothermia die off of Libtards, the survivors may be able to revise their premises.
Sorry to be the bearer of dismal predictions.
**blame the continuing shortage of pipeline capacity to bring natural gas to the region**
Then get them put in!
Is this what a skyrocket looks like?
Buyers remorse is a bitch, ain’t it?
Anne Kuster (D)...re-elected.
Jeanne Shaheen (D)...re-elected.
Maggie Hassan (D)...re-elected.
...so quit your bitching.
Meanwhile, the media continues to run stories opposing the pipeline across southern Red Hampshire.
In any event, I'm sure we can ALL look forward to a discount on our next electric bill as a result of the power failure...right?
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