Published: 10/9/2022 8:45:15 PM
LEVERETT — Electricity bills for Leverett residents are expected to double starting on Jan. 1 as the result of a significant spike in rates, which town officials are attributing to a new contract signed with the company that handles its green energy aggregation.
“We want to prepare Leverett residents for this unfortunate situation that will undoubtedly affect our household budgets,” the Leverett Energy Committee wrote in October’s town newsletter.
The information published by the committee comes upon the expiration of the current three-year deal with Colonial Power Group, which aggregates electricity for residential use in Leverett, as well as more than 80 other cities and towns in Massachusetts.
When the current contract was signed with Colonial Power, it was offering a price below the rates charged by Eversource, the town’s electrical supplier, used non fossil-fuel products, and provided flexible opt-in and opt-out provisions for customers.
The new contract will move the price of electricity for Leverett residents from 10.5 cents per kilowatt hour to 23.6 cents per kilowatt hour. For an average household in Massachusetts, which uses 600 kilowatts per hour per month, that would mean bills of $141 per month, or $1,699 per year, though many residents in Leverett use well above that amount of electricity.
Eversource’s current fixed rates are 15.3 cents per kilowatt hour through Dec. 31, though the state’s Department of Public Utilities will act on a likely requested increase this fall.
In the Leverett newsletter, the energy committee provides a response from Colonial Power to the higher rates, with its explanations including that electrical grid operator ISO New England, based in Holyoke, is facing myriad issues, including the limits to the natural gas capacity. Even though natural gas is supplying 60% of power needs in the region as coal and oil burning plants are abandoned, the markets for liquefied natural gas are under strain, in large part due to the conflict in Ukraine.
Over the summer, Colonial Power representatives let town officials in Williamsburg, which has National Grid as its electricity supplier, know that increased rates could approach 25 cents per kilowatt hour in a revised contract, up from the current 14.4 cents per kilowatt hour, for a possible 74% jump.
National Grid recently announced that its customers across the state receiving basic service would see their bills during the winter, defined as Nov. 1 through April 30, go up from $179 last year to $293 this year, or a 64% increase.
The Leverett Select Board agreed to sign a 13-month deal, rather than a new three-year deal, in the hopes that supply issues, such as getting more wind power online, and federal intervention, might be in place by 2024. Other communities in Franklin County are taking similar approaches in their contracts.
“The anticipated sharp rise in electricity rates made the decision of length of contract more consequential,” Select Board member Pat Duffy wrote in the newsletter. “The interconnectedness between costs per kilowatt hour, upheaval in world affairs and laws governing national policy required sustained and detailed attention.”
While low-income residents who qualify for various federal benefits, such as food stamps, will automatically get discounts, town officials suggest people also look to participate in the Joe 4 Sun program, a nonprofit energy assistance program created by Joseph P. Kennedy II. The energy committee also suggests people find ways to reduce electricity consumption, when possible.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com
0 Response to "Leverett residents face steep increase in electric bills this winter - GazetteNET"
Post a Comment