InDepthNH.org (https://indepthnh.org/series/power-to-the-people/page/5)
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.
A wholly-owned subsidiary of Hydro-Québec has entered into an agreement to acquire Great River Hydro, LLC, which owns 13 hydropower generating stations with a total installed capacity of 589 megawatts along New England’s Connecticut and Deerfield rivers in the states of Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
There is something about spinning your electric meter backwards (metaphorically, if you have a digital meter) that captures the imagination and, in some circles, inspires outrage.
ISO New England is nervous, yet again, about whether the electricity grid will hold up if an extended cold snap stresses the available supply of natural gas. Meanwhile, electricity prices have gone haywire, as evidenced by the 22.6 cents per kilowatt-hour that Eversource has recently started charging its default energy service customers in New Hampshire.
Reading the recently issued New Hampshire 10-Year State Energy Strategy made me think of my new hero, the free-market economist Tyler Cowen.
To paraphrase revolutionary pamphleteer Thomas Paine, these are the times that try ratepayers’ souls. The arrival of 22 cent electricity on August 1 in New Hampshire is the biggest and scariest energy-related news to hit the Granite State in 26 years.
Acknowledging the financial impact to New Hampshire consumers is a “significant concern,” the state’s Public Utilities Commission nonetheless approved a six-month, 112 percent increase in the kilowatt-hour cost of electricity for the state’s largest utility as had been feared and expected.
The state’s largest utility Eversource argued before the Public Utilities Commission Tuesday to increase its rate as New Hampshire electric consumers brace for bills going up by about 50 percent for at least the next six months.
Many New Hampshire consumers will be shocked by their next electric bill. They will see pedal-to-the-metal construction work on a new exit ramp on Interstate 93 in Londonderry and Derry and $50 million in new infrastructure improvements at all 10 county nursing homes to protect seniors from illnesses like COVID-19.
James Danly deserves to be a celebrity in New Hampshire. This column aims to make it so.
For a family car, depreciation is pretty straightforward – at least in concept. The Vista Cruiser had a useful life of eight years. So, the way to pay for the next car would be to include, in the annual family budget, one eighth of the purchase price of the 1967 Pontiac. Then, at the end of the eight years, there would be money in the bank to replace the station wagon.