Wednesday, January 13, 2016

New England's costly electric transmission rates focus of federal investigation



Jan 10, 2016 11:24 AM

New England's costly electric transmission rates focus of federal investigation

NH1.com
Federal energy officials are launching an investigation into New England electric transmission rates, a portion of electric bills related to moving electricity around the grid.

According to the Union Leader, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission says New England transmission rates are much higher than in other parts of the country and appear to be “unjust, unreasonable and unduly discriminatory or preferential.”

The owners of transmission towers are accused of setting rates without meaningful justification or transparency, triggering the call for further investigation.

The federal commission's work could lead to a settlement with the transmission tower owners and ISO-New England, the grid operator; or it could lead to hearings, legal arguments and an eventual order setting rules for how rates will be set.


“It used to be a few years ago, about 50 or 60 percent of the electric bill would be made up of the cost of the energy,” said Dan Dolan, president of the New England Power Generators Association. “Now we are seeing upwards of 60 percent of a bill being made up of transmission and distribution costs. It's been a complete flip from the historical norms, with a massive build-out that the utilities have undertaken.”

The same does not hold true in other parts of the country, where transmission and distribution make up much smaller portions of the bill.

“This activity is driven in large part by FERC's interest in implementing a consistent approach to rate transparency across the country,” said Martin Murray, a spokesman for Eversource, which along with National Grid owns 80 percent of the transmission load in New England.

7 comments:

  1. On top of the overcharge costs from the transmission line providers we in Templeton are lucky enough to have the added cost of a wind turbine that sit still.
    The last three windy days and nights it just sits still like a lawn ornament,or track ornament. Hard to say the power it makes pays the bills on it. So how does it get paid for?
    That would be why we don't get the power cheaper than we should.
    That's what Dana meant when he said they do things right over there.
    Just pay the electric bills there lower than the others who have them.
    Were so lucky!!

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  2. David, what the heck is going on with the wind turbine? It seems like anything that could shut it down this long should have been covered in the agreement when this was organized.

    How poorly was the agreement to install and maintain managed?

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    1. The truth is that the "wind turbine" was a piece of junk when the Templeton Municipal Light Company bought it. The cost to fix it, is more than the thing is worth. I think the best thing would be, to sell advertising from it's blades. When you get a lemon, you sell lemon aid.

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  3. It seems like we should have been covered for this issue in the contract. In the last few years its been one failed purchase, installation after another. The wind mill, the schools heating, our entire financial record. Is this the result of to many entities running in their own direction, or what?

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  4. It seems like we should have been covered for this issue in the contract. In the last few years its been one failed purchase, installation after another. The wind mill, the schools heating, our entire financial record. Is this the result of to many entities running in their own direction, or what?

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  5. The warranty was expired when it went into operation late.
    The company we purchased it from went bankrupt before we bought it. The only piece of machinery that cost 3 million plus that isn't certified i know of. We asked the questions about it being certified and were met with more questions than answers. When the answers came it was that it would cost more to get the certifications then their worth. More like we can not afford the cost of the certifications.
    Bob It's not like people should ask any questions of the infamous commission. I have and was met with the arrogance of a pack of [ loss of words ] and is what made me try to get rid of them. All the time our money, in the millions is hidden and tucked away and under the control of one man and his ability to transfer very large sums electronically through the MMWEC accounts our rate money gets spent on. Take the combined cycle oil production generators we are optioned with. What do we pay for the oil for that deal?
    I bet you would think it's cheep with the amount we purchased. Take a look and you won't see it because they don't show it in the financials any where. Try to compare year to year and see there are not two years in a row that are the same format and the reason is so you can't follow things year to year.
    Town reports that do have the same year to year of the Light financials are we were told a mistake and identical. Just change the dates and put the same report in.
    Sound odd. That won't happen again because they don't put them in the town report anymore. What laws?

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