In the past few years, customers of New Hampshire smaller electric companies have enjoyed relatively stable rates. Sometimes, those rates were lower than they were five years ago.
But that pleasant situation faces a threat.
Two of the state's power companies are in the field right now, shopping for new long term power contracts. And what they're finding is, it's not a buyer's market.
New Hampshire Public Radio's David Darman has more.
New Hampshire Electric Coop just sent its latest newsletter to some 78,000 members. The lead article tries to prepare them for what lies ahead.
Seth Wheeler is a spokesman for the Coop:
"Beginning in 2007 we're likely to have higher energy charges. And a lot of that is pegged to the increase in the price of natural gas. Especially in New England, where many power plants are generating electricity using natural gas."
The Coop's residential customers already pay the second highest rates in the state.
Like most New Hampshire utilities, the Coop buys the power it delivers to customers through long term contracts. The Coop is not the only utility in the state facing higher priced contracts, and those contracts are due to run out.
The Coop is not the only utility going into the market. Mary Coleman of the state's Public Utility Commission says Unitil Corporation is in the same boat:
"Right now, Unitil's larger customers will be facing a new a possibly new contract rate come May 1. The contract they were under will expire then, and they're in the process of soliciting a new supplier."
Unitil officials won't discuss the prices they're finding as they negotiate a new contract. For now, the company offers customers some of the lowest rates in the state. Company officials say they'll announce a new energy contract in the next two weeks. Unitil serves 71,000 customers in the Concord and Exeter areas.
The state's biggest power company, Public Service of New Hampshire, has nearly 480,000 customers statewide. Its rates have climbed steadily in the past two years and are now the highest in the state. But going forward, Martin Murray of PSNH says the company has an advantage other companies don't:
"We're really the only utility that delivers electricity that also owns and operates its own generation plants. Because of that, even though our energy costs have gone up, they have not gone up nearly at the rate that other utilities have been forced to increase their energy charges."
The reason PSNH still owns those power plants is because a few years ago the state backtracked on deregulation. It allowed PSNH to keep its power plants when lawmakers saw where market prices for energy were headed.
Another reason PSNH's prices haven't risen as fast is it can use coal. Coal prices have not recently risen as quickly as natural gas. Nevertheless, fuel prices are still going up and state regulators approved a 5 percent price increase for PSNH customers in February.
A decade ago, New Hampshire customers paid some of the highest rates in New England. Since then, they've gotten a bit of relief, at least relatively. But it will be difficult for the power companies to make it last.
For NHPR news, I'm DD
Click here to see some charts that illustrate NH's electric rates.
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