Due to a steep decline in the seasonal cost of power, summer electric bills will decrease by up to 21.5 percent for members of New Hampshire Electric Cooperative (NHEC), which covers 84,000 homes and businesses in 115 NH communities.
Beginning with bills on May 1, the Co-op power portion of members’ bills (or the cost of actual energy), will decrease 43 percent from $0.09504 to $0.05377 per kilowatt hour (kWh).
The overall monthly bill decrease will be 18.7 percent ($20.61) for typical residential members using 500 kilowatt-hours (kWh) and 21.5 percent ($41.21) for those using 1,000 kWh.
Over the past several years, electric rates during the six-month summer period between May and November have been substantially lower than the winter period, when constraints in the region’s natural gas pipeline infrastructure have led to price spikes.
Driving these wide price swings are seasonal variations in the regional wholesale price of natural gas, which is used to generate about half of the electricity produced in New England. The high demand for natural gas as a heating fuel during winter months causes prices to increase as well.
“Until natural gas pipeline capacity constraints are addressed in New England, we expect seasonal electric rate variations to continue,” says Steve Kaminski, VP of power resources & access at NHEC. “Looking forward to next winter, though conditions may change, at this time our outlook indicates rates should be lower than this past winter’s.”
Current Issue - May 2024