For most New Hampshire residents, electricity should be less expensive this winter than last. At least, that's the indication based on recent rate requests from some of the state's largest electric utilities.
In New England, not enough natural gas pipelines feed a region that increasingly burns gas for its electricity. This means that electricity prices rise as the winter heating season arrives, when people are firing up their furnaces a lot more frequently.
But judging from the rates utilities are asking for so far, prices will be lower than last winter. Eversource energy, which serves most electric customers in the state, says its winter rate will be up 15 percent from this summer, but one and a half percent lower than last winter, at 10.39 cents per kilowatt hour.
Liberty Utilities, which serves Salem, Pelham and towns in the Monadnock region and the Upper Valley, will have a winter rate that is 40 percent lower than last year, at 9.2 cents per kWh.
Unitil and the New Hampshire Electric Coop, which represent the rest of the state, are expected to file their winter rates in the coming weeks.
