Electricity bills fluctuate for wind turbine use in US northeast, rates are higher at peak times or in colder months, Mass. utility begs Obama admin. to allow more natural gas pipelines

3/28/13, "Electric bills may be less severe next month, with potential adjustment drop," the landmark.com, Phyllis Booth (Western Mass. and Vt.)

"The purchase power cost adjustment that took ratepayers by surprise on their recent bill may not be as high for the next billing cycle, Brian Allen, general manager for the Princeton Municipal Light Department, said at a March 13 meeting.
 
He said he’d received a lot of phone calls about the rate increase. “Most were pretty understanding when you explain the reason, but some are pretty disgruntled,” he said. “The big question was, how long will it last.”

Allen referred to an explanation in the winter issue of Join Action News from MMWEC that explained the reason for the sudden jump in energy rates.

Cold weather in late January and fuel supply issues in early February brought higher demand for natural gas used for heating and electrical generation, according to that publication. Both those events caused the cost of natural gas, which was already high due to winter pipeline constraints, to almost quadruple.

The price of power increased to more than 10 times its normal price, as systems had to rely on oil and diesel to operate generating plants. The Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company is urging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to “reach beyond the traditional regulatory and financial model for building natural gas pipeline capacity” 

and fund new pipeline facilities.

Wind generation from the PMLD windmills can help offset prices, but it’s a matter of how much is produced and, more importantly, when it’s being produced, said Allen.

On a day in January at 6 p.m., the windmills were generating 430 kilowatts, but the price of energy was $780 per megawatt. “In February, because our windmills produced energy at exactly the right time (during peak periods), our energy costs will be less,” he said. Allen doesn’t think the light department will need the 3.5 cents that was on the last bill for the purchase power cost adjustment. “We’ll be able to reduce that on the next set of bills.”
Commissioner Donald Steadman suggested leaving a half cent per kilowatt hour on the bill in the future to put into a rate stabilization account to help if prices spike again.

“It may be a way to develop a reserve account with a half cent to see us pay a little at a time rather than a whole lot at once,” said commission chairman Scott Bigelow.

Allen reported that the department in the future may be able to utilize a code red reverse 911 system to let people know mid-way through a month that energy rates are going up, thus giving ratepayers the opportunity to try and conserve in advance. The message would go out via email, phone, cell phone or text message so people can decide on their own to conserve energy and save on their bill, said Allen. This would also allow the department to let people know about power outage situations, or if a road was closing for line repair, he said.

Bigelow said the school has a reverse 911 notifying system and wondered if PMLD could tap into that. “Why duplicate the same thing if we could add everyone in that system,” he said.

Allen said he’d advise commissioners when they could safely reduce the 3.5 cents charge on the light bills."....








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