Doesn’t anybody burn wood up there in New England?
I have a fireplace insert I bought to survive higher heating costs way back in the Jimmy Carter era. It will heat a 2500 sq ft home. I recovered the cost of the insert in about three months due to reduced electric bills.
My home is all electric but I only use the insert when the temperature drops below 30 degrees or when the central heat begins cycling on and off every few minutes. Besides if the electricity should go off for any length of time, it will be my backup heat source.
Burn wood in NH? About 30 percent of all heating is from wood. Wood is free here in NH as long as you can cut and haul it. I have more wood than I can use but less time to process it. NH invented the wood pellet business. It is not about space heating, it is all about the extreme cost of electricity that this article is about. Now, not only do we contend with high costs, but already this winter most of us has endured several days without power due to heavy snows. We have generators...we live in a hostile, cold, wet and windy state, but the few weeks of summer we have can not be beat.
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