Power Deregulation in VT?

Vermont is considering deregulating electricity. The chairman of the House’s top energy committee, Rep. Tony Klein (an East Montpelier Democrat), thinks it may be time to deregulate the utility market to allow the state’s largest consumers to negotiate electricity pricing with suppliers. He presented a proposal for a program on Tuesday at the Capitol Plaza Hotel and Commerce Center in Montpelier, VT. If the proposal is accepted, it would allow those large consumers to potentially take advantage of the savings competitive supply (as opposed to regulated markets) can offer. 

EarlyBird Power Talks to NPR about NE’s Dependence on Gas and Rising Winter Electric Rates

Shaun Pandit, CEO/Director of EarlyBird Power, spoke with Fred Bever of 90.9 WBUR about the causes behind the rising Boston- and New England-area electricity prices this winter. An article published November 8 highlighted the reasons for increasing winter electric rates with excerpts from National Grid and ISO New England personnel in addition to Pandit. Electricity prices are driven in part by natural gas prices and by transportation costs. The natural gas commodity itself is cheap; however, electricity prices are set to rise because New England relies heavily on natural gas in and because there is very limited transportation to bring it to the area. The result is that utility (NSTAR and NGRID) basic service and variable rates in addition to supplier prices are expected to be significantly higher this winter. 

NGRID Announces Winter Rates

National Grid has just announced proposed rates for the winter.

For medium (G2) and large general (G3) service accounts, fixed prices are as follows:

SEMA (11/1/13 – 1/31/14): $0.09895 per kWh

WCMA (11/1/13 – 1/31/14): $0.09804 per kWh

NEMA (11/1/13 – 1/31/14): $0.09960 per kWh

Here are the variable rates for these classes (November, December, and January):

SEMA: $0.06941 per kWh, $0.09950 per kWh, $0.12431 per kWh

WCMA: $0.06778 per kWh, $0.09850 per kWh, $0.12412 per kWh

NEMA: $0.06974 per kWh, $0.09981 per kWh, $0.12557 per kWh

For small general service (G1) and streetlights, fixed rates are:

(11/1/13 - 4/30/14): $0.09448 per kWh

The variable proposed rates for these classes are as follows: 

November: $0.07449 per kWh

December: $0.09856 per kWh

January: $0.11883 per kWh

February: $0.11581 per kWh

March: $0.08077 per kWh

April: $0.07169 per kWh

All of these prices have substantially increased from the summer and fall rates as the utility is pricing in winter risks. NSTAR has not released rates past December; however, they will likely be high. Typically, the rates for both utilities are close. 

Higher Electricity Prices Forthcoming? FERC Conditionally Accepts ISO-NE’s Winter Reliability Program

ISO-NE’s proposed reliability program for the 2013/2014 winter has been tentatively accepted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as an adequate solution to the reliability challenges coming this winter. The program hopes to alleviate potential problems with operational challenges in the winter that could arise because of the heavy reliance on natural gas-produced electricity in New England in addition to concerns about the scarcity of natural gas. The program is also being accepted in part due to the shortage of capacity caused by Entergy’s closing of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station.

Implementation of the reliability program would almost guarantee even higher electricity prices across the board in NEPOOL for both suppliers (whether they take on the cost associated with the program or pass it through) and utilities. 

ACEEE Names Boston Most Energy-Efficient City in the U.S.

A new report issued by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy ranked Boston the top energy-efficient city in the United States. Boston scored very high among U.S. cities in all five categories considered in the evaluation, including first in Community Initiatives and Energy Water Utilities & Public Benefits Program, second in Transportation, third in Buildings, and fifth in Local Government. The ACEEE highlighted a few of the city’s best practices: energy-saving goals for local government and community operations, energy-saving services for residents with Renew Boston, a city partnership with utilities (NSTAR and NGRID), and an ordinance the city passed requiring large buildings to report energy use. The only improvement listed was that Boston encourage more pedestrian, bike, and transit travel through zonal and developmental policy improvements. EarlyBird contributed to this success by recently completing the largest solar deal in MA.

Here is the breakdown of Massachusetts’ renewable energy employment by energy type:

This chart comes from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy and appears in the Boston Globe: http://www.bostonglobe.com/2013/09/17/green-progress-mass/SMDSFOAnw48MYKywq6OmpJ/story.html

The cities rounding out the rest of the top five are: Portland, New York City and San Francisco (tied for third), and Seattle, with Austin, Washington D.C., Minneapolis, Chicago and Philadelphia filling in the rest of the top ten cities.