High Electric Bills Cross Party Lines: Hollis and Brookline Turn Out for Common Sense Candidate Event
By Dr. Jim Kelly, State Representative Candidate
On the evening of Thursday, August 27, the Common Sense candidate team of Liz Barbour, Dr. Jim Kelly, and Jack Flanagan hosted its first Community Conversation at the Lawrence Barn. The team created the series to bring important issues directly to Hollis voters and give residents an opportunity to hear from the legislators and policy experts helping shape New Hampshire’s future.
The event drew a strong turnout of residents from Hollis and Brookline. The discussion focused on New Hampshire’s energy needs and how electricity rates affect families, businesses, and local communities.
Representative Michael Vose House Science, Technology and Energy Committee Chairman spoke of the complexity of energy policy and its effect on New Hampshire ratepayers. He discussed that power generation is limited in New Hampshire and New England in general due to geographic limitations. Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) which is a reliable, abundant, and clean fossil fuel is finite due to restrictions of pipeline development in neighboring states. Although the resistance to pipeline development is waning, fully taking advantage of the LNG fields in New York and Pennsylvania will require a wait of three to five years. We currently receive LNG from fields in Texas which increases the cost. He also described how during New England winters, LNG is diverted for heating rather than power generation so that older, less-efficient, higher-carbon footprint sources such as oil are used for power generation.
New Hampshire is also a member of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) which is the first mandatory, market-based program in the U.S. to cap and reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the power sector.
How RGGI Works
Emission Caps: The program sets a declining regional limit on the amount of carbon dioxide power plants can release.
Allowance Auctions: Fossil-fuel power plants with a capacity of 25 megawatts or more must buy an allowance for every ton of carbon dioxide they emit. They buy these permits at regional quarterly auctions.
Reinvestment: Participating states receive auction proceeds and invest them in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and consumer rate relief programs.
In 2014, the cost for the allowance was $2.55/ton of CO2. It is now $35 and is expected to climb to $60-70 by 2030. This cost is passed on to the ratepayers. If there is a regional surplus from these allowance payments, it is refunded back to the ratepayers. New Hampshire is the only RGGI state that refunds allowance surpluses.
Chairman Voss explained generating power alone is not profitable for utilities. He said that utilities make profits on electricity transmission and infrastructure development. The profit incentive is in place to give electrical companies motive to improve the building and repairing of electrical infrastructure. Regardless, he also mentioned that the current infrastructure is approaching maximum capacity.
Senator Kevin Avard, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman spoke next. He too discussed the difficulties of rate abatement. He mentioned previous attempts to improve infrastructure such as the Northern Pass (an initiative to bring Canadian hydropower to New England) failed. He cautioned about “not in my backyard” resistance to energy production and transmission. Senator Avard also spoke about small modular reactors (SMR) and their introduction into the power grid. He referenced that the state has recently allowed off-grid power generation for independent use (data centers) so that their construction would not affect consumer rates.
The meeting was then opened for Q & A by way of written questions. Visit our website to read questions submitted by attendees.
The attendees arrived informed and submitted thoughtful questions about the cost and reliability of New Hampshire’s energy supply. Topics included natural gas and hydroelectric power, nuclear energy, solar and wind generation, battery storage, transmission constraints, peak demand, smart meters, data centers, and the impact of the Jones Act on energy costs. The full list of questions submitted at the event is available on our website at CommonSenseforNH.com.
The Common Sense candidate team has two additional Community Conversations related to property taxes planned for September 15 and October 20, along with several Meet & Greet events at the Hollis Transfer Station. To receive event details, campaign news, and future announcements, visit our Events and News pages at our website CommonSenseforNH.com and sign up for email updates.
