EVERSOURCE ENERGY says the average monthly electricity usage of its typical customer is now 600 kilowatt hours, up from the 500 kilowatt-hour estimate the company has used for years.
The change showed up on a recent press release detailing the firm’s basic service rates for this summer. Michael Durand, an Eversource spokesman, said the average usage had been above 500 kilowatt-hours for some time, but the company continued to use the old figure so customers could continue to make apples-to-apples price comparisons with previous years.
Durand said Eversource decided to up the average usage to 600 kilowatt-hours to better reflect actual usage. He said the average usage varies slightly across the company’s service territory, noting the average customer in the Greater Boston area uses an average of 600 kilowatt-hours a month, while customers on the South Shore and in the New Bedford area average 584 kilowatt-hours.
The higher number for average usage comes at a time when electricity consumption is being watched closely by state policymakers who are trying to match electricity demand and production as a number of coal and nuclear plants prepare to shut down.
Gov. Charlie Baker and the state’s utilities want to expand natural gas pipeline capacity into the region to support electricity production; however, Attorney General Maura Healey says new pipelines aren’t needed because she believes energy efficiency initiatives can bring down electricity usage. House officials on Monday unveiled an energy bill that directs utilities to buy large amounts of offshore wind and hydroelectricity from Canada, possibly in tandem with some other form of clean energy.
Eversource buys electricity from power generators and passes on the cost directly to customers who choose the company’s basic service option. In its press release, the company said its basic service price for the six-month period starting July 1 will be 8.2 cents a kilowatt hour, which compares to the current rate of 10.8 cents and last summer’s rate of 10 cents.
Even as the price of electricity is declining, Eversource said bill charges for statewide energy efficiency programs will be going up by just over 1 cent a kilowatt hour, adding $6.26 to the average monthly bill.
The combined effect of the lower price for electricity and the higher charge for energy efficiency programs will cause the bill of the average customer in Greater Boston to fall from $129.89 to 120.34, a drop of 7.4 percent.
So what we have is Eversource Energy noticing its customers have exceeded 500 kilowatt-hours in monthly electricity usage for some time and now the utility decided to up the average usage to 600 kilowatt-hours to better reflect actual usage? What does that accomplish? Why not investigate what’s causing the increase in usage? Are more people living in each household? Are people leaving the lights on when they leave a room? Are older, less efficient refrigerators still in use? Are clunker air conditioners part of the problem? Gee whiz, if this increased demand can be identified as actual waste then something can be done to reduce the waste, lower the demand and then they’d be no need to increase electricity supply. Is that really asking too much of our utilities?
Cast your vote in the Boston Globe gas pipeline survey at: http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/regionals/south/2016/05/27/should-massachusetts-oppose-further-natural-gas-pipeline-construction-state/Jx6ILb8gcpzmncNnz1JWMO/story.html