Dear Eleanore Turkington:
Most people I know are fed up with the high cost of electricity. As a matter of fact, I read that in July our bill are going up by $39.
I get very confused with my electric people and wonder where all the extra charge money goes. Can you tell me?
Going Broke
Dear Going Broke:
I can’t blame you for questioning the higher cost of electricity being placed on us again. I contacted the United Illuminating Company for some answers.
According to UI representative, Sarah Wall Flotsos, a sample bill based on 700 kilowatt hours, indicates distribution of where these charges go.
“The supply charges represent the cost of the actual energy that is generated to power your home for instance, the natural gas, wind turbines, and solar panels that generate the electrons flowing through the power lines. Since 1997 when the legislature deregulated the energy supply, UI has not owned power generating facilities. We procure energy on our customers’ behalf and pass on those costs from our customers to the UI for that transaction. Supply costs represent about 44% of our customers’ bills.
“The transmission charges pay for the high voltage electric lines that bring power from energy generating facilities over long distance and across state lines into our substations. We maintain the transmission line into our own service territory to earn some profit for our small section of the small transmission grid, but these charges also go to the bodies that oversee that interstate network of transmission infrastructure (iso-new) England FERC, etc. Transmission currently represents about 12% of our customers’ bills.
“Finally, the Public Benefits are the charges that pay for state-mandated programs and policies such as power purchase agreements, (PPAS) agreements with nuclear plants Millstone and Seabrook. hardship assistance during COVID-19. We do not profit from these charges they are filed separately from a rate case in an annual proceeding known as the Revenue Adjustment Mechanism ( (PURA) just approved the 2024 (RAM)last week 4-22-2024 that is the $30 month increase we anticipate for customers beginning July 1. The increase is particularly large this year because the nuclear power plants, which are on fixed-rate contracts which were less expensive then natural gas last year following the war in Ukraine and PURA, extended a credit to customers last year to defray the increase in supply costs. This year there is a swing back to normalcy when nuclear is more expensive then natural gas and last year’s credit makes this swing all the more precipitous. Public benefits now represent approximately 14% of customers’ bills. This time last year, customers were getting a small credit for the Public Benefits charge- it was actually “a negative ” percentage on the bill.”
Coming up…Fencing problem in neighborhood…potholes on Rangely Street and Enright Street and out of state registered vehicles and much more
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