SOMERVILLE THIS WEEK offered some hope to those worried about the high cost of electricity ever since National Grid said its basic service rate would be jumping to a record 33.9 cents per kilowatt hour on November 1. The city said it signed a contract starting November 1 with Direct Energy that will provide electricity […]
Plugging In
Posted inEnergy, State House News Service
Who’s up next in pilot banning fossil fuels?
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE WEST TISBURY officials have asked to formally withdraw from a new pilot program allowing a group of cities and towns to restrict fossil fuel infrastructure in the building sector, tipping over a domino that could lead to groundbreaking new regulations in Boston or another municipality. The tiny Martha’s Vineyard community was […]
Posted inOpinion
New fed law offers big clean energy incentives
THE INFLATION REDUCTION Act has over $300 billion in incentives for clean energy–solar and wind, geothermal and green hydrogen, batteries, and heat pumps–incentives that mean businesses that invest in clean energy can reap substantial financial benefits. But a tip to businesses thinking about making the move to clean energy–act fast. There is a massive advantage […]
Posted inEconomy, Energy
Here are some ways to lower your electric bill
MASSACHUSETTS RESIDENTS HAVE some options to avoid – or at least sidestep for awhile — the sky-high electricity rates coming this winter. National Grid provided a glimpse of what’s coming last week, when it announced its basic service rate would jump to a record 33.9 cents a kilowatt hour starting November 1. That’s about three […]
Posted inEnergy
Healey calls National Grid rate hike ‘devastating’
A correction has been added to this story. A SPOKESWOMAN for Attorney General Maura Healey, who represents ratepayers in proceedings before utility regulators, warned that National Grid’s electricity rate hike will be “devastating for hundreds of thousands of customers in Massachusetts who simply cannot afford it.” In a statement, Healey spokeswoman Chloe Gotsis urged the […]
Posted inEnergy
National Grid says electricity prices to skyrocket
NATIONAL GRID said the price of electricity it supplies to customers in Massachusetts this winter is going to skyrocket to record levels because the cost of natural gas, the primary fuel used to generate power in New England, is soaring. The utility said on Wednesday that the cost of electricity provided under its basic service […]
Posted inEnergy
Provincetown hooked up to large electricity battery
ONE OF THE LARGEST electric batteries in the nation is starting to provide backup power for Provincetown and will soon do the same for Truro and part of Wellfleet. The $49 million battery, located on a few acres at the Provincetown transfer station, is designed to seamlessly integrate with the power grid in the area, […]
Posted inOpinion
Federal funds, used wisely, can tackle climate change
AMERICANS CAN FINALLY breathe clean air and a sigh of relief as we see the path ahead to our clean energy future. For decades, the prospects for a livable future looked dim as we fought an uphill battle to make sure the United States would fully embrace climate action and clean energy. Congress has been […]
Posted inEnergy
5 New England states seek info on transmission issues
FIVE OF THE SIX New England states have launched an effort to better coordinate the process of bringing ashore electricity produced by offshore wind farms and feeding the power into the regional grid. Currently, states contract with offshore wind developers and the developers select where they want to bring their power ashore and are responsible […]
Posted inEnergy, Environment
Maine court revives Mass.-financed hydroelectric power line
THE MAINE SUPREME Judicial Court on Tuesday breathed new life into a Massachusetts-financed power line designed to carry hydroelectricity from Canada to Lewiston and from there into the New England power grid. Fifty-nine percent of Maine voters passed a law in November that retroactively blocked the transmission line from being built through the heavily wooded […]