Rhode Island energy costs are soaring. So are political tensions.

In declaring a state of emergency over rising energy prices, Gov. Dan McKee simultaneously declared war on the environmental groups, lawmakers and state regulators who he alleges are standing in the way of relief for struggling families.

Emily Koo, senior policy advocate and Rhode Island program director for Acadia Center, shared Chretien’s focus.

“An overreliance on volatile fossil gas and rising utility infrastructure spending misaligned with ratepayer interests are key systemic drivers of this affordability crisis,” Koo said in an emailed response Thursday. “We urge policymakers to embrace (and not undermine) long-lived affordability solutions, like energy efficiency and renewables, that offer durable savings year-after-year along with consumer and economic benefits, and can actually shrink the need for one-time settlements and emergency allocations going forward.”

To read the full article from Rhode Island Current, click here.

Massachusetts Senate backs income checks for Mass Save aid in some of the state’s poorest areas

A Massachusetts energy debate is putting the spotlight on one of the state’s most vulnerable groups.

As CommonWealth Beacon reported, lawmakers say stricter income checks could help safeguard benefits funded by ratepayers. Critics, however, warn that the proposal could create new barriers for households that have only recently begun accessing the program’s support.

One of the biggest divides is over Mass Save funding. The Senate left the program’s overall budget untouched, while House leaders supported a $1 billion reduction, according to CommonWealth Beacon.

Backers of tighter rules say more screening is warranted. Advocates like Kyle Murray, Massachusetts program director at Acadia Center, say the better solution is to make access easier, not harder.

“This is really trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist,” Murray told CommonWealth Beacon. “At a time when self-attestation has finally got the moderate-income program really running well … this really seems counterintuitive to trying to achieve those results.”

To read the full article from the Cool Down, click here.

Electricity prices are about to go up in NH. Here’s why.

Most Granite Staters will see a jump between $6 and $18 in their monthly electricity bills starting Aug. 1, as both the state’s three-investor owned utilities and the Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire are raising rates. The Public Utilities Commission approved the rate changes for the utilities and the CPCNH Board of Directors approved its new rates.

The Northeast already has some of the highest electricity prices in the country, in part because of its reliance on natural gas which is subject to global market pressures. This year, the war with Iran and extreme cold spells this winter are contributing to higher costs this fall. Locally, this is the first full year utilities have had to follow a new way to set rates, which advocates say is leaving customers increasingly squeezed.

How will these conditions impact electricity bills for residential customers in the Granite State? And why may they look different for different utility customers?

What does the spot market mean for consumers?

Some consumer and clean energy advocates argue the spot market is detrimental for customers, especially at a moment when climate change is making extreme weather more likely and many families are increasingly struggling to keep up with the rising cost of living.

Joe LaRusso, who oversees the Acadia Center’s Clean Grid program, said the new calculation mechanism leaves consumers vulnerable to risk.

“They really have been set up for a trap, because they have the impression that their cost of electricity is remaining the same. That is, the price doesn’t change for six months,” he said. “But in fact, there is the risk that the half of the power that they’re getting, that’s variably priced, is accumulating a charge that they’re going to have to pay all at once at the end of that six month period.”

He said the traditional model offered a more transparent alternative that would spread out additional costs over a six month period, instead of customers being hit with a large spike once utilities realized they underestimated costs.

LaRusso said the utilities may have been missing the mark because they are inexperienced at making the market predictions they are now required to do, especially as things like weather are becoming more unpredictable.

“If utilities are required to buy half of the power that they’re delivering to their customers in this variable market, they’re really taking a bet on the weather,” he said. “Because if we have a bout of extreme weather, then we’re going to have extremely high energy prices.”

To read the full article from New Hampshire Public Radio, click here.

Massachusetts bill would end a costly gas pipeline repair program

To read the full article from Canary Media, click here.

New England solar projects cut millions in costs during July heatwave, report says

Rooftop solar saved New England ratepayers more than $130 million in electricity costs during the region’s early July heat wave, according to a report from the Acadia Center. 

Jamie Dickerson, one of the report’s authors and senior director of climate and clean energy programs for the environmental nonprofit, said it’s a clear economic case for the benefits of solar power.

“If we hadn’t invested in these resources, we would have been even more exposed and overexposed to the fuel sources that are more volatile and more subject to the dramatic swings in prices during peak periods,” he said.

The Acadia Center’s Grid Action Report looked at the heat wave that hit New England in early July, and estimated that during the week of June 28 through July 4, distributed solar projects contributed more than six gigawatts in electricity, saving New England ratepayers $130-149 million. On July 2 alone, the report found that solar arrays saved $39 million to $54 million.

Distributed solar includes projects connected to the electric grid ranging from household rooftop solar to community solar arrays up to 5 megawatts. Those solar panels offset a household’s electrical use and inject any surplus energy production into the grid, Dickerson said.

“Like if someone has a house and is using air conditioning, their solar is feeding the air conditioning and reducing demand before any surplus is being sent back to the grid,” Dickerson said.

“The grid soaks it up,” he said, and that means “other resources don’t have to burn during those hours of production,” saving other ratepayers money because they don’t have to buy those other fuel sources.

The solar production also reduces the overall demand for other fuel sources, keeping prices lower.

The analysis found that at times, solar power was feeding about 25% of the grid’s total electric demand. The afternoon of July 2, solar contributed more power to the grid than the region’s nuclear fleet.

Dickerson said the benefits of solar are not confined to heat waves like the one seen in New England this month. In fact, the Acadia Center found that last year solar energy saved $1.26 billion to $1.37 billion.

“These are resources that we’ve invested in that are there and will show up on the grid during these types of hotter summers and El Niño summers,” Dickerson said. “We’re going to see savings year-round, but especially in the summer with higher temperatures that we’re seeing.”

Dickerson said that other energy efficiency improvements in the region, like better insulation, weatherization and more efficient appliances, also helped ratepayers save on energy costs during the heatwave. The report estimated that those passive resources saved ratepayers $94 million to $97 million during the week. That includes an estimated savings of $29 million on July 2.

Dickerson said these savings can be hard to show, because it requires calculating what costs would have been without solar power. But he hopes the report can highlight the impact of solar and refute the narrative that clean energy is driving prices up. Especially as the Trump administration pulls back support for clean energy, and state and local leaders must consider the future of those investments.

“This is hopefully helping to make the argument that these are not only good for all of our public policies around emissions reductions, but also good economic energy affordability policies too,” Dickerson said.

To read the full article from Maine Morning Star, click here.

A Mass Save reform generating consensus among lawmakers is drawing blowback from advocates

In a sign of just how heated the debate around the state’s energy efficiency program has become, even a relatively small proposed reform that has been uniting Beacon Hill Democrats is generating increasingly intense pushback among some advocates and prompting larger questions about the goals of Mass Save altogether.

Energy affordability legislation that the Senate passed earlier this month included language that largely mirrors a provision approved by the House, which would subject moderate-income customers in some of the state’s poorest communities to new income verification requirements in order to receive certain Mass Save benefits.

“This is really trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist,” said Kyle Murray, Massachusetts program director at Acadia Center, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group, who also serves on the energy efficiency advisory council. “At a time when self-attestation has finally got the moderate-income program really running well, in keeping with requests from the Legislature for years to help those individuals access benefits, this really seems counterintuitive to trying to achieve those results.”

To read the full article from Commonwealth Beacon, click here.

New England rooftop solar cut heat wave power costs by $130 million, and at times beat nuclear

As temperatures surged in early July, solar panels on New England rooftops were supporting more than the buildings beneath them.

While homes and businesses used that power locally, the systems also took some of the burden off the regional grid as air-conditioning demand climbed.

Analysis connected rooftop solar to at least $130 million in reduced wholesale energy costs for electric customers during the weeklong hot spell.

Jamie Dickerson of the Acadia Center, who oversees climate and clean energy programs, said the savings resulted from rooftop systems reducing the amount of power the regional grid had to provide.

The effect was strongest during the hottest hours of the day. At certain points, the Acadia Center found, rooftop solar was meeting about 25% of the region’s total electric demand.

“It’s distributed solar, it is close to where the load is, you know the actual electricity consumption, that means that it effectively reduces the peak demand that is seen on the regional grid,” Dickerson said.

Solar’s summer payoff isn’t limited to New England. During a Level 1 grid emergency two summers ago, the same regional grid operator leaned on the same kind of relief as demand spiked with the heat.

Dickerson said the biggest cost effects showed up during the most intense heat of the week.

“Basically, we saw between 28% and 43% of daily costs were avoided by the distributed solar in the region,” Dickerson said. “Between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. on that hottest day of July 2, the distributed solar actually contributed more to the fuel mix than the region’s nuclear fleet.”

To read the full article from the Cool Down, click here.

Mass. House, Senate Poised for Negotiations Over Sweeping Energy Bill

As Massachusetts nears the conclusion of its official legislative session at the end of July, members of the state Senate and House face a difficult proposition of reconciling two omnibus energy bills that could have major effects on clean energy development.

Both proposals are billed as efforts to address energy affordability. House leadership claimed their bill would save consumers more than $9 billion over 10 years, while the Senate said its would save more than $14 billion.

The bills contain major differences in how they would achieve these savings. Efficiency funding and gas system investment have emerged as potential sticking points in negotiations.

Despite the high-profile differences, there is significant overlap between provisions included in both bills. These include language affecting interconnection, power procurements, competitive retail supply reforms and scrutiny of spending on transmission asset condition upgrades.

Apart from the proposed cut to Mass Save, “I think we’re in a strong position,” said Kyle Murray of the Acadia Center. “I’m hopeful we’ll see a case of taking the best pieces of each of these bills and working them into a final package.”

To read the full article from RTO Insider, click here.

Rooftop solar eases New England’s electric demand in heat wave

Solar panels mounted on rooftops across New England significantly eased overall demand for electricity from the regional grid during an intense heat wave in early July, according to a new analysis.

Jamie Dickerson, senior of climate and clean energy programs at the Acadia Center, said distributed solar generation helped New England electric customers save at least $130 million in wholesale energy costs during the heat event between June 28 and July 4.

“Basically, we saw between 28% and 43% of daily costs were avoided by the distributed solar in the region,” Dickerson said.

Rooftop mounted solar, sometimes called “behind the meter” generation, provides power to offset energy use in individual homes and businesses. But excess electricity is sent onto the local grid, helping meet demand from nearby buildings.

To read the full article from Bangor Daily News, click here.

Here are the strong elements of House and Senate energy legislation that should be included in the final bill

High prices at the pump and rising utility bills mean that energy affordability is top of mind right now. At the same time, the recent heat dome over New England is a dire reminder that the climate crisis is only getting worse – while it drives those utility bills even higher.

There are good aspects in both the House and Senate bills. Some common elements, such as cracking down on third-party energy suppliers – which have cost consumers nearly $740 million over the last 10 years — and making it easier for the state to invest in clean energy, are great steps. What is important is where these bills differ and how they can be reconciled.

Most importantly, the Senate version preserves the Mass Save budget. Mass Save is a crucial program for achieving energy efficiency, saving consumers money, and cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Acadia Center estimates about $3 in economic benefits for every $1 dollar spent on Mass Save and $12 billion in consumer benefits over the lifetime of the program.

To read the full article from Commonwealth Beacon, click here.