This winter, New Englanders experienced a double whammy: record-setting snowfall and big electricity bills. Many New Englanders – more than 2.3 million – are still reeling from electricity bills that are 29 percent and 37 percent higher for NSTAR and National Grid customers, respectively. Homeowners are paying more than 20 cents per kilowatt hour. That’s about the same cost for electricity as the average Hawaiian pays. It’s double what homeowners in most parts of the country pay.
The reasons for the region’s rising electric bills are more complex than unusually cold weather. A major culprit is the natural gas infrastructure.
{mosads}New England has turned to natural gas-generated electricity to wean itself off of coal-fired power plants. It’s a smart move given the growing supplies of domestic natural gas and, better yet, doing so cuts greenhouse gases and other harmful air emissions in half. Electricity from natural gas has grown from 15 percent to more than half of New England’s grid-supplied power in the last 15 years. However, the ability to get more natural gas to the region is constrained by inadequate pipeline capacity. Projects are planned to add capacity, but they will take time to locate, build and begin operating. That means high electric bills are likely to linger in the six-state New England region and parts of Long Island.
President Obama announced plans this week to help improve energy infrastructure, including pipeline capacity, based on the Energy Department’s first quadrennial energy review. However, homeowners seeking immediate relief from high electric rates have options. One of them is making energy-efficiency upgrades with propane, which currently heats more than a million homes in the Northeast. With prices for propane around $3.00 per gallon, the switch from an electric water heater to a propane model could save homeowners about $625 a year.
Soon, we’ll bask in warmer weather and inevitably winter’s sticker shock will wear off. But winter will come again, and so will those high electricity bills. Now is a good time to replace that old electric water heater with a tankless propane model. And save that loose change for a different kind of winter emergency fund: a Caribbean vacation.
Willis, is president and CEO of the Propane Education & Research Council.