Record New England electricity prices and solar.

[Brian26]

New England is going to pay some insane electricity prices this winter. My 7 year old paid off 5.4kw system has essentially doubled my rate of return. Anyone with panels in New England is going to to see some huge reductions on roi with these prices.
Unitil customers in Massachusetts are going to to be paying the highest electricity costs in the nation. Even more expensive than Hawaii which uses mostly oil for power generation.

As of January 1, 2023, Connecticut’s all-in residential electric rates ($0.35/kWh) for both Eversource and UI will be within the same range as most New England utilities, including New Hampshire ($0.33/kWh to $0.39/kWh) and Rhode Island ($0.29/kWh). Only Maine ($0.24/kWh to $0.28/kWh) and Vermont* ($0.18/kWh) are lower. Meanwhile, customers of National Grid and Unitil in Massachusetts are paying over 40% higher rates than Connecticut at $0.48/kWh and $0.42/kwh (Note: Electric rates change seasonally and on different timeframes for each utility; these figures are subject to change).

My install numbers when I installed close to 6 years ago. Current rates are 4x my 25 year levelized cost of electricity

 

[peakbagger]

The payback is very much dependent on the rate structure that the local utility provides. NH had a great program but a conservative legislature and a republican governor that is far too friendly with the utility made the program far less attractive. Luckily, I am on the older plan that at least for now is grandfathered.

 

[woodgeek]

Sorry to hear about the rate hikes in NE, and that solar is saving you. By Bro on Cape Cod put in solar right at the twilight of the sweet SREC deals, a few years ago.

My sister is in CT, and works for Eversource. She is not getting a 50% raise this year.

Here on the west side of the Hudson, my electric rate is still $0.14/kWh, no expectations of a jump.

 

[Northern NH Mike]

Has anyone moved from Eversource to another provider? I am hearing that it is an option in NH. I haven't done any research, but have to imagine that another provider is going to have to pay the same price increases for oil and natural gas to fire the plant.

 

[peakbagger]

I have not, but most studies by third parties indicate that the third party providers cant do anything much better than standard offer. In NH several years ago one agressive firm couldnt live up to their promises and they were shut down. Eversource does not generate, they just go out for bids for big block of power. The 3rd party firms may offer teaser rates but read the fine print carefully. In some cases they will have ways of dumping the risk back on the consumer. That happened in Texas a year or so ago, people who did not read the fine print ended up paying incredibly high prices for power. The big companies were bailed out by the state legislature on the backs of the ratepayers who were not bailed out.

The problem is right now is the futures price for natural gas does not work well with New England due to pipeline constraints. When it gets cold and power is in demand, the gas plants just cant run as they cant get gas. LNG used to be the backup but every tanker in the world will be heading to Europe and Japan. So Northern New England has to rely on what little coal and oil generation along with Seabrook plus some imports that are all constrained. Meanwhile several local biomass power plants are shut down possibly for good as the governor does believe in subsidizing local biomass (lots of pros and cons). And northwenr NH can produce more renewable power than it can export to southern NH when the wind is blowing due to lack of transmission capacity.

So if you find a deal and read and understand the fine print and consequences of the details, go for it, but most folks ignore the fine print and then start screaming when the consequences hit.

 

[Caw]

Anyone with panels in New England is going to to see some huge reductions on roi with these prices.

I'm very tired and had a long day so I'm probably completely missing the point here...but why would there be a lower roi? If the cost of power goes up so does the amount of $ the solar is saving you. Higher energy costs would lead to faster system pay off due to the increased amount saved.

Also any excess generated is paid out at the current rate minus fees. For example, the price before the hike was $0.24/kWh the payoff was $0.20/kWh for power sent back to the grid. That ratio should be similar with the new prices.

My solar panels cover 90% of my usage so I'm not too concerned about the price increases. It'll just be annoying for the Jan/Feb bills I get.

 

[peakbagger]

My guess he may have confused years of payback with ROI. Higher power rates means more savings per year which reduces how long before the panels are paid off?.

 

[Caw]

Yeah probably. The higher the prices the better owning solar becomes.