Electricity Costs in Massachusetts/New England

[EdA]

Solar definitely helps during most of the year, but production does drop significantly during the winter months... exactly when the NGrid rates jump up so much!
I will have enough solar panels to over-produce during some months in summer, but the winter months billing will be very heavy!
Therefore, I have decided to join one of these energy companies that will lock in my rate for 12 months at around $0.11/kwh. This should hopefully give me plenty of a discount (about 5-6 cents lower than NGrid) during winter months, that the little bit of energy I need during summer is easily offset.

Which company did you choose?

My town enrolled everyone in one of these plans (2 year lock) but the first bill after we switched NStar messed up our billing.
Still waiting for that to be resolved. Make sure from NStar that there are no penalties for moving! Plan B: drive by Auburn a lot.

 

[Gwgan]

Interesting article on the larger forces playing in the New England area.
http://www.freepressonline.com/m/Articles.aspx?ArticleID=37035

"Maine wants natural gas, and Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts want renewable energy to meet strict carbon reduction targets." And Maine doesn't want any of that clean Canadian Hydro.

I just don't know why Maine complains so much about natural gas supply when at the same time distribution to end-users is expanding in every urban area through aggressive promotion.

Companion article on the same issue highlights GridSolar's attempt to reduce peak demand; a group that understands that storage is as important a piece of the puzzle as generation.

 

[Robert.Boston]

NatGas prices throughout New England are far higher in winter than in PA/NY because of insufficient gas pipelines into New England. About half of all Mainers still heat with oil, so if they are to transition to NG, there needs to be a build-out of the NG pipelines. We also still have some of the last oil-fired grid-scale electric generators in the New England fleet.

There's a bill in this session of the Maine legislature to reclassify hydro of any size as renewable. I'm not sure what traction that has.

 

[3mp_kwh]

Therefore, I have decided to join one of these energy companies that will lock in my rate for 12 months at around $0.11/kwh. This should hopefully give me plenty of a discount (about 5-6 cents lower than NGrid) during winter months, that the little bit of energy I need during summer is easily offset.

I'd be curious, too. NRG sent out a come-on letter for $.11/kwh, but it was a three month rate that started after the new Jan/Feb peaks. If you got a 12 month fixed $.11/kwh, I would be very surprised. Please, do tell.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Interesting article on the larger forces playing in the New England area.
http://www.freepressonline.com/m/Articles.aspx?ArticleID=37035

"Maine wants natural gas, and Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts want renewable energy to meet strict carbon reduction targets." And Maine doesn't want any of that clean Canadian Hydro.

I just don't know why Maine complains so much about natural gas supply when at the same time distribution to end-users is expanding in every urban area through aggressive promotion.

Companion article on the same issue highlights GridSolar's attempt to reduce peak demand; a group that understands that storage is as important a piece of the puzzle as generation.

As I understand it, the expensive natural gas still beats heating oil overall, so it'll expand for heating. (I'm planning a heating upgrade replace at 20+ year old oil furnace with a condensing boiler system when it's available on our street). But for electricity natural gas' problem had historically been about cost, and the winter demand peaks combined with insufficient pipeline raise the price.

The hydro rules are irksome, because of the proximity to QC's hydro. If it's not that, then there's the HVDC-through-forest issues holding things up.

 

[DEinspanjer]

Sorry I'm late to the thread, but when looking at a TOU plan, also consider making some lifestyle changes. We used to have NGRID here in southern NH but were switched over to Liberty Utilities. Our TOU plan goes from a peak distribution charge of $0.09032 to an off-peak rate of $0.00096, so basically nine cents cheaper per kWh. When we switched to our TOU plan, we changed our schedule to always run the dishwasher at nights and the laundry on weekends, and I also installed a couple of cheap timers to turn off various always-on equipment during the day. We shifted half our peak energy usage to off-peak, and that was before we even got the car delivered. So, take an average monthly rate of 1000 kWh off-peak use not counting the charging of the car, and the TOU plan alone saved us $90 per month.

At our off-peak total rate of $0.11/kWh, that translates to roughly 800 miles of travel in the Tesla per month that we can charge off-peak before we even start paying more than what we saved by switching to TOU.