Driven by a steep decrease in the seasonal cost of power, summer period electric bills will be going down by nearly 19% for most members of New Hampshire Electric Cooperative (NHEC).
Effective with bills rendered May 1, the Co-op Power portion of members’ bills (the cost of actual energy) will decrease by 43%. The result for the typical residential member using 500 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per month will be an overall bill decrease of 18.7%, or $20.61 per month. The typical residential member using 1,000 kWh per month will see a total bill decrease of 21.5%, or $41.21 per month.
The rate reductions were approved on March 29 by the NHEC Board of Directors and continue an annual pattern of fluctuations that have seen the cost of power increase during the winter months and decrease in summer months. Driving these wide price swings are seasonal variations in the regional wholesale price of natural gas, which is used to generate approximately half of the electricity produced in New England.
Over the past several years, electric rates during the six-month summer period have been substantially lower than the winter period, when constraints in the region’s natural gas pipeline infrastructure have led to price spikes. Natural gas demand increases sharply during the winter months due to its use as a primary heating fuel, which drives up the cost of generating electricity for winter delivery.
“Until natural gas pipeline capacity constraints are addressed in New England, we expect seasonal electric rate variations to continue,” said Steve Kaminski, NHEC Vice President of Power Resources and Access. “Looking forward to next winter, though conditions may change, at this time our outlook indicates rates should be lower than this past winter’s.”
The May 1 rate change is the result of a 43% decrease in the Co-op Power rate, from $.09504 to $0.05377 per kilowatt hour (kWh), offset slightly by a 0.2% increase in the Regional Access Charge. A complete list of NHEC rates, fees, and charges is available under the Rates and Tariffs menu at NHEC.com.
NHEC is a member-owned electric distribution cooperative serving 84,000 homes and businesses in 115 New Hampshire communities, including Andover.