New Hampshire Deserves Better - Affordable Energy

On average, NH residents spend about $2,500 a year on electricity.  That is a significant portion of most family’s budgets.  Which makes it even more difficult for families when the cost of electricity increases.

Back in the summer of 2022 most of us were very concerned at the news that our electricity rates were scheduled to increase significantly. Eversource announced that their residential rate would more than double; Unitil announced that their rate would go up by 160%

Across New Hampshire, the average residential rate in May of 2023 was nearly 31 cents per kilowatt hour.  While high, that rate was not out of line with rates in the rest of New England.  

Since then, the average rate in New Hampshire has fallen to 23 centers per kilowatt hour, which is now a little less than the overall average for New England.

New Hampshire is not alone in dealing with increases and decreases in our electricity prices, and ALL of us in New England are paying significantly more than the rest of the country where the average price of electricity is about 16 and a half cents per kilowatt hour. Why is that?

New Hampshire is part of an integrated electricity distribution network that covers all of New England.  Much of the power we consume here is generated out of state.  Although the Seabrook Nuke Plant is in our backyard most of the power we consume here comes from other areas of New England.

And New England relies more on burning imported liquified natural gas to generate electricity then other areas of the country.  While natural gas is “cleaner” to burn then coal or oil, our reliance on it and the fact that we must import most of what we use places us at considerable risk when a severe weather event in another part of the country or an international crisis occurs. 

For example, much of the increase we experienced in late 2022/early 2023 was a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting disruption to the global market for natural gas.  As the global market adjusted and the price of natural gas stabilized, we saw that translate into slightly lower electricity prices.

ISO-New England manages the electric grid for all of New England.  They estimate that the current gross annual electricity demand in our region is about 138,000 gigawatt hours (GWH).  Existing efforts to promote energy efficiency is projected to reduce demand by about 12,000 GWH.  Small scale renewable projects – mostly solar panels installed by homeowners – further reduces the demand by about another 4000 GWH to a net annual demand of about 122,000 GWH. New England is currently able to generate about 101,000 GWH of our own power and we must import (mostly from New York and Canada) the rest.

Over the next ten years, ISO-New England projects that net annual electricity demand in our region will increase by about 30,000 GWH.

If we were to continue to rely on natural gas fired generators to meet this increased demand, we would need to build about 15 of those plants – at a cost of $2 billion – over the next ten years. Of course that will increase carbon emissions in our region.  Even if we were willing to invest in “small scale modular” nuclear plants (that have a power generating capacity of about one-third of a traditional nuclear power reactor such as at Seabrook) we would still need to construct about 10 of those plants to fully meet the expected increase in demand.  

The better approach is to strengthen our efforts at promoting energy efficiency and encourage the development of distributed renewable energy projects.

Reducing the demand for energy through weatherization, better appliances, high efficiency lighting, smart thermostats and more will not only reduce the overall net demand in New England for electricity, but help families save money on their monthly electric bills.

While New England as a region leads the nation in efforts to improve energy efficiency, New Hampshire, unfortunately, lags behind the rest of our New England neighbors. 

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative -also known as RGGI - is the nation’s first multi-state initiative to reduce power sector CO2 emissions. The RGGI states (New England plus Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and New York) establish a regional cap on the amount of CO2 emissions that power plants can emit each by issuing a limited number of tradeable CO2 allowances. Those allowances generate revenue that is allocated to each state, which chooses where and how to invest that money.

Since its inception 61% of the revenues generated by RGGI has been invested by the member states in programs to improve energy efficiency and 6% has been invested in clean and renewable energy projects.

New Hampshire, however, has chosen to utilize 70% of our proceeds in direct bill assistance and only 28% in energy efficiency programs.  While that may sound like a windfall for electricity consumers, in 2022 the average benefit to consumers in New Hampshire was less than $50 per year.

Sadly, since 2008, we have chosen not to invest any of our RGGI proceeds in new and renewable sources of energy.

Renewable power offers the benefit that after the initial investment has been made, the ongoing cost of the “fuel” (the wind, the sun or water) is minimal, no carbon emissions are generated and the exposure to the same price volatility due to geopolitical or market disruptions we have been experiencing virtually disappears.  

Most of the renewable projects that will be built in New England are smaller in scale, except for offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine.  They will not – at least in the immediate future – replace the large existing natural gas fired – or nuclear - power plants in our region.  Many of these projects will be adjacent to - or built on top of existing structures – think solar panels on top of a warehouse or home.

What these new sources of power will do is change the nature of our power grid.   In today’s centralized model, power usually flows in one direction: out from power plants to end consumers.  In the future, most of the power generated will be consumed at the source with any excess sold to the grid, through what is called “net metering”.  Current NH law limits the size of projects that can take advantage of net metering to 5 Megawatts (MW) if it is sponsored by a municipality and 1 MW for all other projects.  This new distributed model will require significant new investments to upgrade and modernize our electric grid.  Included as part of that upgrade will be investments in large scale battery storage to ensure that enough power will be available when the sun isn’t shing or the wind isn’t blowing.

Here again, New Hampshire lags behind our New England neighbors, who have all set much more aggressive targets for the percentage of power generated in their states from renewable power.

NH Deserves Better!  We should not be lagging behind our neighbors in New England, we should be leading the regional effort to become more energy self-sufficient, if not for ourselves than for our children and grandchildren.

We need to:

• Invest more of the funds we receive from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative(RGGI) in energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.

• Allocate additional state funds to programs that help– particularly lower income- homeowners winterize their homes and invest in more energy efficient heat pumps, water heaters, lighting and appliances.

• Raise the size limit on all solar projects seeking to participate in net metering to up to 5 MW.

• Adopt the latest energy conservation building codes which will make homes almost 10% more efficient and lower monthly bills.

• Double – at least - our state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard for the percentage of power generated from renewable sources by 2040 and set additional targets for the years beyond that.

• Link future rate increases for our state’s regulated utilities to incentives to make the investments necessary to modernize our electric grid through a “Performance-Based Rate Setting” process.

• Actively engage in efforts to develop offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine and bring that power to New Hampshire.

Concord has not done nearly enough to address our energy needs, and we are all paying the price for it.  Join me so that we can work together to get off the electricity price rollercoaster.

We cannot afford another two years of inaction on the issues such as this that really matter to us in Hampton.  That’s why I am running to represent you again.  With your help we can – and WILL – make a difference.