{"id":274,"date":"2014-12-11T16:26:47","date_gmt":"2014-12-11T16:26:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/providerpower.com\/mass\/?p=274"},"modified":"2014-12-11T16:31:07","modified_gmt":"2014-12-11T16:31:07","slug":"higher-electric-utility-rates-stretching-consumers-budgets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/providerpower.com\/mass\/2014\/12\/11\/higher-electric-utility-rates-stretching-consumers-budgets\/","title":{"rendered":"Higher Electric Utility Rates Stretching Consumer’s Budgets"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the holidays approach, higher electric utility rates are taking a toll on consumers. \u00a0 The solution? \u00a0 Shop the market, review all the options.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Massachusetts, National Grid’s rates are 37% higher than last winter<\/a>. NSTAR’s rates have increased 29%<\/p>\n

On December 8th WGBH News<\/a> covered the recent changes in electricity rates.<\/p>\n

The reason given for these increases \u2014 the high cost of natural gas delivered to New England during the winter months.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The rise in natural gas dependency has been dramatic in the region. ISO New England, the manager of the regional electricity grid, indicated that nearly 15 years ago, natural gas represented only 15% of the total mix of fuels. \u00a0In 2014, natural gas is now the leading source of electricity in the region, accounting for 55% of production \u2014 that\u2019s an increase of 266%! Currently, the second leading source of electricity is now nuclear, with coal representing 1% and oil even less than that, a dramatic restructuring of the region\u2019s traditional fossil fuel mix used to generate electricity.<\/em><\/p>\n

Regional Concern:<\/strong><\/p>\n

In New Hampshire, customers of two utilities \u2013 Liberty and Unitil \u2013 will see an increase in their electricity supply rates greater than 40%. As of December 1st, 2014-PSNH, the state\u2019s largest utility, has not announced their new rate.<\/p>\n

State energy officials are going to unprecedented lengths to put information into the hands of consumers. \u00a0The New Hampshire Office of Public Advocate<\/a>put out a news release offering advice to consumers on how to manage their utility bills this winter.<\/p>\n

Maine households on the standard offer have been protected from price swings because the PUC (not the utilities as many believe) has been bidding only one-third of the total standard-offer price each year. \u00a0The PUC bidding process will change this year, with standard-offer bids reflecting more-immediate, real-time prices. That process will begin later this fall and rates will change on March 1, 2015.<\/p>\n

How much will Maine residential consumer pay for power? \u00a0Maine’s Public Advocate, Tim Schneider, is quoted in a recent news<\/a> story as saying consumers should pay attention to the rates offered by\u00a0competitive electricity supply companies such as Electricity Maine. \u201cI think they are indicative of what the next annual solicitation will be for the standard offer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Are there any short-term solutions for customers\u2014both residential and business owners?<\/p>\n

Emile Clavet, co-owner of Provider Power (the parent company of Provider Power Mass, Electricity Maine, and ENH Power, one of region’s largest competitive electricity suppliers, suggests consumers \u201clock in\u201d a longer term contract for electricity.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt all depends on personal risk,\u201d said Clavet. \u201cIn this environment, with so much fluctuation in the cost of power, it is our belief that the best option for consumers is to lock-in a longer term contract\u2014especially one that covers as many \u2018peak seasons\u2019 as possible. Fixed, longer term contracts protect consumers,\u201d he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Similar to oil-price contracts that allow customers to pay a set price for each gallon purchased during the heating season, even if the price of heating oil spikes, competitive electricity providers also offer similar type contracts for the power they provide.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere isn\u2019t a model that suggests rates will go down any time soon,\u201d added Clavet.<\/p>\n

To read more about what is driving the cost of electricity and the impact on residential and business consumers visit:<\/p>\n

Boston Globe<\/a><\/p>\n

Cape Cod Today<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the holidays approach, higher electric utility rates are taking a toll on consumers. \u00a0 The solution? \u00a0 Shop the market, review all the options.\u00a0 In Massachusetts, National Grid’s rates are 37% higher than last winter. NSTAR’s rates have increased 29% On December 8th WGBH News covered the recent changes in electricity rates. The reason […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[17,16,14,8],"class_list":["post-274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-electricity-rates","tag-national-grid","tag-nstar","tag-provider-power-mass"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p556Rx-4q","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/providerpower.com\/mass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/providerpower.com\/mass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/providerpower.com\/mass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/providerpower.com\/mass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/providerpower.com\/mass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/providerpower.com\/mass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/providerpower.com\/mass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/providerpower.com\/mass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/providerpower.com\/mass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}