InDepthNH.org (https://indepthnh.org/series/power-to-the-people/)
D. Maurice KreisPower to the People is a new column by D. Maurice Kreis, New Hampshire’s Consumer Advocate. Kreis and his staff of four represent the interests of residential utility customers before the NH Public Utilities Commission and elsewhere.
And I don’t have any reason to doubt that electricity rates in New Hampshire have climbed, on average, by 36 percent in the nine years I have served as the state’s official advocate for the interests of residential utility customers.
Imagine if you could save money on your electric bill by using a service provider to adjust your thermostats, switch your dishwasher or dryer on or off, or activate or deactivate your home electric vehicle charger, all as demand on the grid fluctuates.
The procedural order issued on March 26 by (and here’s the tipoff that news is involved) just one of the three members of the Public Utilities Commission (PUC). Ninety-nine point nine times out of 100, orders of the PUC are signed by all three commissioners.
Four economists have submitted written expert testimony in that docket, in which the PUC is considering Eversource’s request to hike its distribution charges by a whopping 47 percent for residential customers.
Circle February 1 on your calendar if you are an electricity customer in New Hampshire. The price of electricity is changing and many Granite Staters risk losing out on the best possible price. Beware!
Utility regulation in New Hampshire is broken. Exhibit A for that proposition is the endless squabbling at the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) over net metering.
One sure sign of a sore loser is the sight of someone trying to change the rules of the game as defeat looms.
Power to the People is a column by Donald M. Kreis, New Hampshire’s Consumer Advocate. Kreis and his staff of four represent the interests of residential utility customers before the NH Public Utilities Commission and elsewhere.
State utility regulators voted to prohibit New Hampshire and Maine consumer advocates from participating in a review of a $385 million transmission line upgrade that has drawn criticism from officials, advocates, and property owners and residents along the 49-mile project.
Our state’s biggest water utility is, in its own peculiar way, every bit as distinctive as our first-in-the-nation primary, our state motto, and our mountain with the world’s harshest weather.