PowerOptions® is the leading energy buying consortium in Massachusetts, setting the bar for other groups and suppliers. By consolidating the gas and electricity energy buying power of Massachusetts nonprofits, as well as state and municipal facilities, PowerOptions is one of the largest energy consortiums of its kind. PowerOptions brings budget certainty, cost savings, financial protection […]
PowerOptions urges the passage of House Bill 4185, An Act Relative to Net Metering and Solar Power, which will uncap solar net metering and create new opportunities for renewable energy and jobs in Massachusetts. This legislation, if passed, would provide benefits for consumers, the solar development community, the environment, and even utilities. This legislation replaces […]
At a recent New England Power Pool (NEPOOL) meeting, a retail supplier cautioned ISO-New England about suggesting the winter natural gas supply constraints were costing customers hundreds of millions of dollars more than the previous winter. He explained that most customers will not pay those prices because customers generally buy electricity at fixed prices for […]
In a post here last week, we detailed why the utility industry’s proposed legislation mandating utility long-term solar energy contract procurement in place of the current competitive customer driven market won’t work. What we didn’t get to then was why the industry proposed it in the first place. It’s clear from the utility’s explanation supporting […]
Recently, the two largest utilities in Massachusetts – Northeast Utilities and National Grid – have become very vocal about the risk of increased costs for consumers from the well-established and successful solar program enacted by the Legislature and administered by the Patrick Administration. As a consequence of their newly found concern for the ratepayer, the […]
As previously discussed in this column, the New England electricity system operator, ISO-NE, encountered difficulties last winter in meeting electricity demand when natural gas supplies, the primary fuel source of electricity generation in the region, were constrained during high heating demand. After many months of wrangling, a plan – the Winter Reliability Program – was […]
