View from Massachusetts: Renewables not cheap (Commonwealth)
The difference in price is huge. For a typical customer using 600 kilowatt hours a month, the Eversource price is $49.20, while the CleanChoice product costs $85.20. That’s just the price for electricity, and doesn’t include separate transmission, distribution, and customer service charges assessed by Eversource.
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http://commonwealthmagazine.org/environment/renewables-not-cheap/
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Comment
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Comment by Eric A. Tuttle on January 12, 2017 at 1:05pm
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@ Paula D Kelso CMP is currently at a delivery rate .2576 for the first 50 Kwh, then at .066541 for the overage thereafter. With the energy charge rate at .064430. 503 Kwh totals to $75.43 as I am looking at the bill in hand.
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Comment by Barbara Durkin on January 12, 2017 at 10:20am
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Thank you, LI.
As you are aware, MA is pushing offshore wind. DeepWater Wind is 20% down, 4 out of 5 turbines operate, from the start.
It gets worse for ratepayers...
Boston Globe
January 10, 2017
Chesto Means Business
Grievances aired over power move: The Cape Wind project may be dead. But the offshore wind business is very much alive, thanks to a 2016 state law requiring utilities to buy power from offshore wind farms. NStar successor Eversource wants to be both a buyer and a seller, now that it is investing in one of three wind projects proposed for waters south of Massachusetts.
That doesn’t sit well over at PowerOptions, a Boston group that negotiates power purchases on behalf of cities and nonprofits. CEO Cynthia Arcate says Eversource’s stake in one of these proposals could violate the spirit of the state’s two-decades-old electricity deregulation law, by essentially allowing a utility to own a power plant and pass its financial risks on to ratepayers.
State officials are still formulating rules under which Eversource and National Grid will make long-term purchases of hyrdro and offshore wind power. But Arcate’s group just filed comments urging that bids from projects with utility-affiliated investments be rejected, because of the potential conflict of interest.
Good luck with that. Eversource and state officials say they have faith that a recently hired independent evaluator, Peregrine Energy Group, will help ensure the bidding process goes cleanly and fairly.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2017/01/10/talking-points-purch...
So, who is Peregrine Energy Group?
"Eversource and state officials say they have faith that a recently hired independent evaluator, Peregrine Energy Group, will help ensure the bidding process goes cleanly and fairly."
Having "faith" that Peregrine is independent is like having "faith" that offshore wind can benefit ratepayers and taxpayers.
Peregrine
Paul Gromer, CEO
Paul Gromer has been a state energy commissioner, the executive director of energy efficiency and solar energy trade associations, and a regulatory attorney. He is Peregrine’s CEO and founder.
Paul was Commissioner of Energy Resources for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, a position in which he was responsible for state energy policy and state energy programs. He was also Chairman of the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Council. Paul helped found and served as executive director of two energy trade associations: the Northeast Energy Efficiency Council and the Solar Energy Business Association of New England. He is also an attorney and has represented energy companies before public utility commissions in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and New York.
Paul maintains a hands-on relationship across Peregrine’s clients, supporting them in matters regarding utility regulation, energy efficiency, market analysis, and renewable energy. Paul also speaks widely on these issues. He is a graduate of Middlebury College and Harvard Law School.
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Comment by Paula D Kelso on January 11, 2017 at 9:27pm
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Deborah, I think you will find that your $52.55 includes the cost of electricity and transmission, distribution and probably some fees. For 263 kwh, I make that a little more than 19 cents per kwh. Just a little higher than us in Maine. Eversource price for just electricity is 8 plus and Clean Choice is 14 plus cents. Emera and CMP in Maine are probably more like 6 cents per kwh for the electricity. Add in the transmission, distribution, taxes and fees and it comes up to 17 to 19 cents. Which makes my heavily electric household's 1100 kwh or so usage cost nigh on to $200 a month. But I only use $25 of gas a month. My choices. Anyway, I hope this explanation of the price comparisons is helpful.
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Comment by Deborah Andrew on January 11, 2017 at 3:40pm
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Perhaps Eversource rates are different from state to state. I live in MA. Last reading: 263 kwh, Bill: $52.55 (significantly fewer kwh, higher bill than the figures in the post.)
Maine as Third World Country:
CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power
Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.
Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT
******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********
(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/
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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law
Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future
"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."
https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/
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