ESG & Industry Updates

Maine Stalls on Path to First Statewide Consumer Owned Utility

Posted by Kelly Burke on Jul 14, 2021 11:07:00 AM

shutterstock_102519710Maine lawmakers have been pushing for the state to create the first statewide, publicly owned utility in the US. The legislation proposed in June would have created the entity (Pine Tree Power) as a nonprofit utility that would use issued bonds to purchase the asset holdings of the current suppliers (Central Maine Power & Versant). The bill passed the House but stalled in the Senate, ultimately being defeated by one vote on questions raised about how the utility would cover the shortfall in property tax revenue that would arise from the exit of the current utilities. The shortfall was estimated at $90 million dollars, which is normally paid out to cities and towns.

Given the failure in the Senate, as well as the likelihood that Maine governor Janet Mills would veto the project should it pass, supporters are reportedly looking to pursue the project as a ballot initiative. Supporters see the project as a necessary pivot from the privately held utilities because they project that it would be cheaper for ratepayers, and would be a step forward towards Maine's goal of 100% renewable based power generation. 

The story in Maine is multilayered and complicated  - and still ongoing. We wrote an article for Oil & Energy Magazine that runs through a more detailed overview of where the issue stands currently. You can read that article here: Power to the... International Corporate Ownership? 

 

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Topics: Utility Rates, renewable energy, maine

New England Energy Grid Faces More Challenges

Posted by Ed Burke on Aug 30, 2018 1:52:00 PM

Mystic Power Plant

New England has some of the highest utility rates in the country, and a fuel-constrained infrastructure. Now the area is again looking at potentially losing two major energy sources simultaneously. 

The Mystic Generating Station in Everett announced a full shutdown as of 2022. If Mystic closes, the LNG import terminal in Everett would lose its largest customer, which would jeopardize the terminal's ability to stay operational. The result of the terminal closing in tandem with the generation station means the region would be at risk for rolling blackouts during the winter months.This is obviously a huge safety concern for residents. 

The regions energy infrastructure is complicated, and the path forward looks complicated as well. As any resident of Mass can attest, there has been a lot of back and forth regarding the shuttering of older plants, which has its pro's and cons (Brayton Point, and Pilgrim being recent examples). There has concurrently been much back and forth on the merits and drawbacks of added pipeline capacity for natural gas, looking at nuclear options, and so on. 

I wrote an article for Oil & Energy detailing some of the issues surrounding the potential Mystic & LNG terminal closures, and what its looking like the path forward may be depending on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's rulings, etc. You can read the article here:  New England Grid Needs Broader Market Changes to Address Fuel Security 

 

 

Fun fact: Photo featured is of the Mystic Generation Station taken about a mile from our old HQ in Chelsea, MA by an employee 

 

 

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Topics: Utility Rates, Energy Infrastructure

Breaking: Rate Hikes Approved. Hold On to Your Wallets - or Hold Your Nose for Pipeline Approvals

Posted by Ed Burke on Sep 26, 2014 4:58:33 PM

Oil pipline in the snow

 National Grid announced Thursday that it is proposing to raise electricity rates by 37% starting November 1, with other utility companies to follow suit. The rate increases are not a profit but a response to the increased cost to the utility companies on the wholesale market. National Grid cites that the price increases are a result of New England moving to deriving more and more electricity from Natural Gas, without the region investing in any supply expansions. Today, the proposed rate hike was approved.

 So what does the rate hike mean for you? The average residential customer in MA is looking at a bill around 40 dollars higher monthly (assuming similar usage year-on-year)

 So whats going on, why is electricity spiking like this?

It’s all about Natural Gas supply.

 The supply crunch we saw with Nat Gas in the region last winter forced many power generation stations to run alternatively on oil or liquid gas for generation, which costs more. Given the polar vortex dominated winter we had this past season, and the lack of any forward progress on infrastructure improvements, it makes sense that rates are skyrocketing in anticipation of another cold season.

 Then why isn’t my natural gas heating bill going up? Basically, long term contracts versus spot pricing – natural gas often gets locked in over longer periods, so it doesn’t necessarily hit you in the wallet right away when prices bounce.

 There are supply solutions potentially on the horizon, but even if approved it would be a couple years before they were fully operational. Two vying pipeline options are being proposed to relieve the Nat Gas supply pinch in New England. The first is Kinder Morgan's Proposal, the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Northeast Energy Direct Project. T he Tennessee pipeline would be through Pennsylvania and Upstate NY, then run through Massachusetts from Richmond on the NY border to Dracut on the NH side. It would run 177 miles, with a 3 foot diameter.

On the other side, Spectra Energy & Northeast Utilities are planning to expand pipeline access to New England on the existing Algonquin pipeline, which will terminate in Everett (right outside of Boston). The project would replace the existing 26 inch pipeline with a new 42 inch one, essentially along the same route it already takes, but the expanded diameter and system upgrades would result in higher yields.

Senators Markey and Warren are both appearing to oppose the pipelines, and many activist groups are also protesting any pipeline expansion ala "not in my back yard"……. but the question becomes - if we dont upgrade the infrastructure to allow more nat gas to flow, aren't we condemning ourselves to continually increasing rates and supply problems? Probably.

One irony of the pipeline protests is that as a region, we’e moved to Nat Gas over environmental concerns (ie replacing coal fired plants). And although there may be some environmental concerns with pipelines, the lack of supply during cold snaps means that power plants etc have to burn other fuels for electricity generation which both drives up cost, and has its own environmental impact. Essentially, the spike in reliance on natural gas for power generation (versus heating) is a result of closing power plants in the region based on their environmental impact - notably the Somerset Station (coal burning)  a few years ago, the Salem Harbor Station (coal burning) closed this year, and the planned shut down of Vermont Yankee (nuclear).

The bottom line is the power has to come from somewhere, and with New England counting on  over 60% of our electricity generation coming from Nat Gas sources, we’ve really painted ourselves into a corner.

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Topics: natural gas, Utility Rates, algonquin pipeline, tennessee pipeline, national grid, electricity rates

Energy in the News - Are Utility Rate Reductions Really A Positive?

Posted by Ed Burke on Aug 8, 2013 1:09:00 PM

This week a Federal Judge ruled that New England utility companies guaranteed profit rates are too high at their current rate of 11.1% and advised they be dropped to 9.7%. According to boston.com, this is projected to save electricity customers in Massachusetts approximately 50 million dollars a year (out of 115 million for New England as a whole).  

You can read the Boston.com article here: Federal Judge Rules that Utility Profits Too High

However, utilities argue that these levels of return are necessary to make transmission improvements to avoid issues like those we experienced in New England in 2011. It was only about 2 years ago that Massachusetts and the New England region suffered huge, extended power outages from a couple brutal storms.  Additionally after Hurricane Sandy and events like it, we all seem to agree that there’s improvements needed in electric transmission and supply – and in fairness, utilities have projected huge spending on these projects in the coming years.  

An important point to remember also is the monumental, round the clock work utilities put in in emergencies like Sandy, tirelessly working to restore power to impacted areas. Our work in Emergency Fueling & Response has let us see that first hand and let me assure you, these people are unbelievably great in times of crisis. In theory these transmission upgrades should mean that in times of crisis, the outages will be a lot more manageable which should be a positive for just about everyone. 

The Edison Energy Group, according to Boston.com has stated that investor-owned utilities will spend over 26 Billion on transmission improvement projects in2014 & 2015, and Massachusetts alone is expected to see 67 million dollars in improvements by 2017. That’s a pretty impressive level of investment and utilities argue those dollars come from their ability to project profit levels based on the guaranteed rates in question.

On the flip side however, Massachusetts has some of the highest electrical rates in the country, along with Connecticut and other New England States. According to the US Energy Information Administration. You can see the chart of rates here: EIA.gov 

Additionally, one of the regions’ major utility parent companies reported earnings 33% higher than in 2012. The year before that saw some controversy over bonuses paid out to utility executives, which seems to have been what spurned the case for lowered rates started two years ago by Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office.

Massachusetts consumers won’t see too much of an impact on their personal home bills, but businesses could benefit greatly from lowered costs. However, is there a potentially disastrous cost in the future without the transmission updates utilities say can only occur at the higher percentages?

What do you think?

Is this a good ruling or one that may seem “penny wise and pound foolish” in the event of another major storm impacting the area?

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Topics: EIA, Hurricane Sandy, Utility Rates, Emergency Fuel, Massachusetts

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