Massachusetts’ Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy held a hearing yesterday on the effectiveness of the Green Communities Act (GCA). I was among those who testified, including Attorney General Coakley, officials from DOER, the Patrick Administration, utilities, business groups and others. From my perspective, there are many things that have worked well in the […]
Technological advancements are changing almost every facet of our lives and have for some time. The energy marketplace is no different, and there are tremendous opportunities for utilizing technology to increase efficiencies, improve delivery and reduce costs. But there are several roadblocks in the way of proper adaptation of technology and, to me, several easy […]
Much has been argued in the proceeding before the Department of Public Utilities (DPU) about the appropriate standard of review for the merger of Northeast Utilities (NU) and NSTAR. Initially, the companies filed their case under the long standing precedent of “no net harm” to ratepayers. Later the Department of Energy Resources advocated for a […]
Perhaps you’ve seen commercials on New England Cable News about the Northern Pass project. So far, I’ve seen two commercials – one that didn’t even say Northern Pass is an energy project, the other mentioned renewable hydro power but didn’t mention that the core of the project are massive new transmission lines. The pitch has […]
The proposed merger between NStar and Northeast Utilities will have a significant impact on the region’s energy marketplace. Whether it will be good for consumers – particularly the 500 nonprofit members of PowerOptions which form a backbone of the Massachusetts economy, depends largely on the conditions now being negotiated. For months, interested parties have been […]
While the cost of electricity has fallen dramatically over the last two years as a result of the drop in natural gas prices, the delivery part of your electric bill (transmission and distribution company charges) has been going up significantly. The distribution charges have been going up for a variety of reasons: New state mandates […]
