What’s that charge for? We’re breaking down your utility bills

Many of us saw crazy high home-heating bills this winter. Massachusetts energy bills were already among the highest in the country.

Now, as we approach the hottest months of the year, we know many of you are paying close attention to your utility bills. Do you ever look at those bills and wonder what all those charges are?

“I think people really want to know what goes into their bills,” said Kyle Murray, Director of State Program Implementation for the Acadia Center–a non-profit focused on renewable energy.

Murray agreed to sit down with Kavanaugh and go line by line through some energy bills, breaking them down, dissecting each of the charges.

Electric Bill Itemization

The first charge listed on an electric bill is the Customer Charge.

“That is basically the charge of meters,” said Murray. And the cost for utility companies to read those meters, fixed usually at $10 a month.

The Distribution Charge is the cost of carrying power from substations to your home.

“The stuff that’s in state that’s carrying it from substation to your home. Think those smaller poles and wires,” said Murray.

Murray says think of the Transmission Charge as the cost of big towers carrying power across the region.

Not to be confused with the Transition Charge which allows utilities to recover assets stranded after energy restructuring decades ago. Oddly, that can appear as a negative charge.

The Energy Efficiency Charge funds the Mass Save program–funding rebates and incentives to make homes more efficient. Murray says that has benefitted ratepayers whether they use the program or not.

“Because of the fact that Mass Save has been such a successful program, I believe the numbers around, we’ve reduced our energy build out that we would have had to do by about 20%. So that’s a lot of savings that are delivered, even if you’ve never used the program at all,” Murray said.

Next is the Renewable Energy charge.

“So, the renewable energy charge goes to a trust fund that funds the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. And they are focused on clean energy innovations,” said Murray.

Don’t have solar? You still have two charges associated with it.

The Net Meter Recovery Charge –goes to homes with solar power producing more energy than they consume

The Distributed Solar Charge–provides consumers with incentives to install solar on their homes.

“It is efficiency measures for your home,’ Murray said. “It’s not generation side for your homes.”

And the Electric Vehicle Charge funds the state’s electric vehicle program.

The Ratepayer Debate

“I couldn’t believe that I’m getting charged for electric cars and solar panels, which I don’t have neither one of them,” said Massachusetts ratepayer Carmen Lopez.

Lopez echoes a sentiment of some ratepayers and that of the conservative non-profit, the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, which advocates for government and fiscal transparency and accountability.

“I would slash them [charges] all,” said Paul Craney, the executive director of the alliance. “I mean as a consumer if you want to pay for these projects, you certainly can but a lot of people don’t want to play for these projects.

Craney said the markets should decide whoever can produce the best product at the cheapest cost and consumers should choose what they want.

Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance blames high energy bills in part on the state’s push for electric energy.

“It all comes back to a bill, a law that was passed in Massachusetts, the Global Warming Solutions Act,” Craney said. “And so, as ratepayers, people who pay these bills, we are now starting to fund these mandates. We’re just in the beginning phase of how expensive this is going to become on the ratepayers.”

Craney argues natural gas is a more reliable energy source, and often a cheaper one.

Murray, with the Acadia Center, disputes that.

“No, it’s not always the cheapest. And in many cases investing in renewables such as solar or wind or hydro come in significantly cheaper at those moments and that’s why it’s really important to have a mix of fuels rather than just going all in on natural gas which is what we kind of did in the past,” Murray said. “You’re subject to the whims of the market when if production is down, prices can spike. Or if demand goes up, prices spike. So, this ends up with the consumer not necessarily knowing what their bill is going to look like due to things that are largely out of their control and largely out Massachusetts’ control too.”

But Murray says there should be a conversation about what programs fall to the ratepayer in their monthly utility bill.

“We can’t keep putting programs on the backs of rate payers. It’s just not sustainable in the long-term,” Murray said. “I think additionally we can start looking at what goes into the bill and determining should this be volumetric or should this maybe be a fixed charge or should it altogether maybe be removed from the bill, and put into the tax base somewhere.”

To read the full article from Boston 25 News, click here.