Are electric supply rates expected to drop again mid-year? Does a frugal homeowner need to check rates 2x/year to make sure they're getting the best deal?

Submitted by sadswirlofme t3_10o7mts in Connecticut

I'm somewhat new to the state, and it was hard not to notice all the talk on this subreddit about new super-high electric rates and how its probably wise for a lot of people to switch suppliers.

When rates change again on July 1, will everyone be comparing to see if the new Eversource/UI rates are competitive? And if they are the lowest, will everyone switch back?

I'm not looking forward to the prospect of switching suppliers every 6 months, especially since there can be a substantial delay between the request and the actual switch.

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Kolzig33189 t1_j6cxwip wrote

Even if price of oil/natural gas tanks, there is exactly a 0% chance eversource drops production or delivery rates. They will continue to increase endlessly because there is no oversight.

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virtualchoirboy t1_j6d26g4 wrote

Eversource generation rates are based on whatever contracts they sign. It's a pass through cost because Eversource is not allowed to generate electricity in the state. That was part of the deregulation. That's why generation rate changes are always approved. If Eversource signs better (i.e. cheaper) contracts, their rates are required to go down.

Edit: As shown here, generation rate actually went down for July-December 2021. It does happen, it's just been rare lately.

You're right about delivery charges though. Those will never decrease because they are rapacious pieces of crap out for profit and don't care about their customers.

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hamhead t1_j6demi7 wrote

It’s amazing how people still don’t understand this despite the microscope ES has been under for the last year. And you’re clearly a shill if you point it out.

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virtualchoirboy t1_j6djjkq wrote

I'm just surprised my comment hasn't been downvoted into oblivion while calling me an ES fanboy.... :-)

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eddie964 t1_j6d5skl wrote

Tell me, oh CT energy guru: What, exactly, is a "production rate"? And why would delivery rates change in response to oil or gas prices? (Is it possible you are just throwing out terms to make it sound like you know what you are talking about?)

Supply prices are adjusted 2x a year to reflect what it costs Eversource to procure electricity supply on the competitive market. Usually, the Jan. 1 adjustment is an increase, and the July 1 adjustment is a decrease. Obviously, when energy markets are haywire, that trend may fall by the wayside.

Fuel prices are generally down from where they were a few months back, so supply prices ought to follow that this summer. But because of the way CT utilities have to procure supply for their customers, it could take a while for lower prices to get fully baked in.

Keep an eye on competitive supply options in the months ahead, since there are likely to be some deals. But continue to compare over the longer term because Eversource's Standard Offer often falls below competitive supplier prices after prices rebound from a drop.

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Kolzig33189 t1_j6d7vo0 wrote

Why am I not surprised to see a bunch of pro eversource/“eversource isn’t the bad guy” posts in your history?

Duff burner account perhaps??? Lol. Or just an eversource employee? Really don’t understand people defending this crooked company at this point, how they make record profits every year and then turn and say “yeah we need to increase rates again.”

I understand that supply prices are based on cost of natural gas to produce our electricity. And natural gas has plummeted in price since the summer. Also, that has exactly nothing to do with why eversource has tripled their cost to consumers in a short amount of time. Care to explain that one and why eversource isn’t to blame?

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eddie964 t1_j6d8ydr wrote

Nope. Just used to work in the business (not for ES) and am constantly amazed at how little people understand about this subject. My only goal is to correct factual misinformation. (Ask me about the distribution rate increases both Eversource and UI are proposing, and you'll get a very different kind of answer.)

(By the way, having perused my history, are you really accusing a 15-year Redditor with 55k karma and a long comment history in dozens of subs of being a "burner" account?)

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Kolzig33189 t1_j6dbfar wrote

Would you prefer the term “alternate account”? It was clearly sarcasm regardless. And besides, absolutely none of that answers the question I asked about delivery costs tripling.

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eddie964 t1_j6e1w4q wrote

Serious offer: If you shoot me an image of the itemized delivery charge on your recent bill, and the one you are comparing it with, I will identify what has changed to cause your delivery charge to triple.

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hamhead t1_j6deg6l wrote

No one was arguing with you on the delivery side. But the delivery side is irrelevant to OP’s question.

If you want an argument on the delivery side though, delivery increases have been below the inflation rate for years. They certainly have not tripled. As someone else pointed out, they’ve increased under 16% in 6 years. I haven’t checked his math but if you have better info, let us know.

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Kolzig33189 t1_j6dgbo2 wrote

I’m not really concerned with splitting between supply and deliver here, my original statement was cost to consumer. See below link. That is a massive increase that our own AG disagrees with them having any reason for doing.

https://portal.ct.gov/AG/Press-Releases/2022-Press-Releases/Attorney-General-Tong-Statement-on-Eversource-Supply-Rate-Increase

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hamhead t1_j6dgegm wrote

That’s the supply rate. Not delivery.

Edit:

User ghost edited. His current statement is nothing like it was, and now is completely irrelevant to the conversation. The AG’s statement he is now linking to also doesn’t say what he thinks it does. All it says is that electricity in CT is expensive. Nobody was arguing that.

/u/Kolzig32189 should be concerned with splitting between supply and delivery, since one is ES and the other is a pass through rate. There is no point to this entire thread of the conversation that he’s replying to if we aren’t concerned with what is what.

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Kolzig33189 t1_j6du6eq wrote

Perhaps I worded it poorly; when I said I wasn’t concerned with splitting those costs out, I meant in relation to this thread I wasn’t really going into that with my previous comments and was talking about cost to consumers as a whole/what’s the monthly bill. Not that generally speaking about the Eversource problem I’m not concerned. The approx $80 per bill increase they’re quoting isn’t sustainable for a whole lot of families in the state especially given ES ridiculous profits.

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[deleted] t1_j6dnl4n wrote

[deleted]

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Kolzig33189 t1_j6dssd7 wrote

That’s one part of the statement and I completely understand that point and agree we should lessen our reliance on gas for our electricity generation.

But when Tong uses the phrase “we pay too much for our electricity in CT as it is and these rate hikes are nothing short of punishing”, I interpret that as “eversource is charging too much for their product (and screwing us) and there’s nothing we can do to really stop them.” He says in a subsequent sentence that they really don’t have ability to challenge supply rates. Maybe you have a different interpretation, that’s fine, I’m not trying to say you need to see it one way or another, that’s just how I interpret that statement.

It’s not like eversource doesn’t have a history of bad business practices: https://portal.ct.gov/AG/Press-Releases/2022-Press-Releases/AG-Tong-Announces-Settlement-with-Eversource-Over-Natural-Gas-Marketing-Allegations.

So I guess the logical question would be is why can’t Eversource be more heavily regulated by PURA or similar especially when it comes to profits vs rate increases? When they make incredible profits and then say “well we need to double supply rate overnight” and there is no control in place, that’s scary. All our states reps say that PURA basically has their hands tied, reviews are administrative only and have ‘no teeth,’ etc.

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johnsonutah t1_j6e52wk wrote

If you want to decrease eversource costs in CT, then convince Vermont / New Hampshire to run new transmission lines down from Canada (they previously shot this down) so we can access cheap hydroproduction electricity.

Or convince New York / PA whatever states west of us shut down the natural gas pipeline that would’ve delivered us cheaper energy.

Sadly CT has little option to improve its situation

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Kolzig33189 t1_j6e7pyc wrote

I can understand the reasoning why certain states wouldn’t want a pipeline but what was the logic for not wanting lines down from Canada? Environmental/concerns about land clearing?

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necro_ill-bill t1_j6ey1qo wrote

Supply rates will definitely be coming down July 1st. Will they return to .09-.11? Most likely not. I’m predicting between .14-.18. Remember utility rates lag the real-time energy markets by 6-12 months. The $8-9/Dth gas we saw over the summer caused the drastic .24/kWh winter rates. With natgas under $3/Dth currently, rates will come down next rate change.

You can already see tranches of power in the .13-.17 range (second link)

https://www.eversource.com/content/docs/default-source/about/2021-2024-purchase-chart-ct.xlsx?sfvrsn=23aeb6ca_1

https://www.eversource.com/content/docs/default-source/about/sept-22-ss-bids.pdf?sfvrsn=e5709dd0_1

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Synapse82 t1_j6cyll5 wrote

You don’t need to switch every 6 months if you utilize EnergizeCT and select a different supplier.

I had a 7 cents rate for 3 years with Liberty power. Now I have 13 cents for 3 years through constellation.

You can still grab a 14.8c for 34 months at thinkenergy in that link. There is no difference in suppliers just a weird gimmick we do here

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virtualchoirboy t1_j6d2pk4 wrote

The new rate will be announced before July 1st. I believe there were news announcements of the new rate around mid-November of last year for the January 1st increase.

As /u/Synapse82 said though, make it a habit to check every few months through the EnergizeCT website. I make it a point to check when I'm doing quarterly financial stuff like checking IRA performance, etc. I check electric rates and home heating oil prices so that I have an idea of how things are trending.

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sadswirlofme OP t1_j6d5z7g wrote

Thank you! Guess I'll just have to make it part of my routine :)

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FoundationBrave9434 t1_j6cyiw6 wrote

Historically I’d look every 3-4 months or so, just to check. Who knows where rates are going moving forward though.

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JDMhammer t1_j6d8gqh wrote

I check the rates monthly at this point, few bucks here and there is money back into the beer budget.

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frissonFry t1_j6dwsrp wrote

I check the rates on EnergizeCT roughly every quarter. Takes two minutes.

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y2kill4money t1_j6egfpe wrote

Are u asking if eversource will drop their profit no they will not they prices won't go down

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raidflex t1_j6g0ewy wrote

Eversource has no reason to lower rates. Its not that we have any choice and they know it. We will be lucky if the rate stays the same.

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Humbabwe t1_j6dkv1y wrote

Consider going solar if the conditions (daily sun on roof, relatively new roof, etc.) are right for you. You can put $1000 bucks down and have a monthly payment of $140 locked in forever (plus some money back every April if you over-produce)… or something to that effect.

Edit: not forever, but for 15 years and then free for the following 10-15 years.

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PoorInCT t1_j6fissg wrote

Make sure you can terminate without a penalty and switch as often as its worthwhile. It may cost 10-15% extra for no penalty termination but its worthwhile during wars.

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