EVERSOURCE ENERGY said its customers will pay about 8 percent less this winter for electricity, suggesting that constraints on natural gas supplies coming into the region won’t have a major impact on rates this coming year.
Eversource, in partnership with Spectra Energy of Houston and National Grid, wants to build the Access Northeast pipeline to expand the supply of cheap natural gas coming into New England. The company says pipeline constraints, combined with greater demand, typically drive up the price of gas in the winter months, resulting in higher prices for electricity.
But the company announced on Tuesday that its basic service rate, which takes effect Jan. 1 and lasts for six months, will be 9.996 cents per kilowatt hour, down from 10.844 cents last winter and well below the price of 14.97 cents a kilowatt hour during the winter of 2015.
The basic service rate is the price of power for those customers who don’t select their own natural gas supplier and instead rely on their utility to purchase power on their behalf. The basic service price is established through a competitive bid process with regional power suppliers; Eversource passes the cost directly through to customers.
Eversource said in a recent conference call with financial analysts that it was pushing ahead with Access Northeast even though no clear financing mechanism for the project has emerged. Company officials insist the pipeline is needed, while Attorney General Maura Healey, who represents the state’s electric ratepayers, believes the region should move away from carbon-based fuels and embrace conservation and renewables.
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About Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.
About Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.
In its press release on Tuesday, Eversource addressed the pipeline issue obliquely. “While New England still faces significant constraints on natural gas supplies that affect the price of electricity, Eversource is pleased to be able to pass this winter’s price reduction on to its customers,” the press release said.
For an Eversource basic service customer using 600 kilowatt hours of electricity a month, the price decrease will yield a bill of $131.05, nearly 4 percent less than a year ago. The basic service price represents only a portion of an electric bill; other charges on the bill include transmission, distribution, and customer fees.
