InDepthNH.org (https://indepthnh.org/series/power-to-the-people/page/15)
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.
“Jane Doe” is getting her $560 million Powerball prize from the New Hampshire Lottery – and the rest of us might end up paying huge price when it comes to government transparency.
One would hope that the SEC’s decision would point Eversource and other industry payers in the direction of more local and small-scale projects when it comes to needed improvements to our energy infrastructure. Energy efficiency, demand response, micro-grids, battery storage, and small-scale generation facilities are the kind of infrastructure that does not require SEC approval, yet all count.
Power to the People: What happens at dawn when the power goes out at the home of New Hampshire’s consumer advocate, the man who represents the interests of residential utility customers before the Public Utilities Commission? And it’s wicked cold.
Nancy West | Updated Tuesday at 2:40 p.m. to include Eversource Energy spokesman Martin Murray’s comment: “As a regulated utility, our rates are based on our costs, including federal taxes. If taxes are reduced, ultimately costs are reduced and that benefits customers. I suspect the impact of the federal tax legislation on Eversource will be discussed more comprehensively at the Public Utilities Commission.”
In the spirit of the season, the December 25 edition of this column Power to the People foregoes the usual tales of ratepayer exploitation. Instead, we visit Montana.
Power to the People – In season 2 of the TV series Stranger Things, the bedraggled residents of Hawkins, Indiana struggle against the Mind Flayer – an uncontrollable, intelligent force from another dimension that wreaks havoc via the underground tentacles it has threaded beneath every part of town. The whole mess is the result of evil experiments conducted by rogue elements of the U.S. Department of Energy.
Fifteen million bucks, parceled out over the 40-year useful life of the project, is not exactly a Megabucks ratepayer jackpot.
New Hampshire uses about 9 percent of New England’s electricity. So, if a couple of rogue utilities pulled some sneaky tricks over three years that caused wholesale electricity prices in New England to be $3.6 billion higher than they should have been, that’s $324 million that was siphoned out of the pockets of electric customers in the Granite State.
The truth about the cost of electricity in New Hampshire from some folks who know.
Liberty Utilities is on the march, working hard to grow its natural gas empire in New Hampshire. What’s a ratepayer advocate to do? What does the public interest require?