# Cost of Electricity in Your Area



## UpStateNY (Jul 17, 2021)

What is your cost of electricity?  I saw on another thread here someone paying 23c/kWh in MA.    That seemed extremely high to me.  

My cost here in upstate NY under Central Hudson. This month, July 2021, my electric cost was lower than usual at 12.3c/kWh with Nexamp solar farm discount. It would have been 13.9c/kWh without Nexamp discount. This does not include the $19.50 monthly basic service charge which I would have to payed if I used zero kWh. Average for the year Central Hudson charges approximately 15c/kWh without the Nexamp discount.


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## peakbagger (Jul 17, 2021)

I dont know since I have not bought any for five years . I pay a standard fee for the privilege of being connected to the grid.  

I think its important that the cost is "all in".  The energy cost is only a small part of many bills, usually its broken into energy cost, transmission and distribution, system benefit charges (usually energy efficiency related) possibly state taxes, and standard service fee (usually fixed for each account type. The other items listed usually are usage related. So If someone does not buy a lot of power, the standard fee adds a lot of cost per KW while someone who uses lots of power the standard fee adds a minimal amount. 

The simplest way is probably take the bulk bill and divide by the KW used. realizing that low power users will be penalized somewhat.


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## UpStateNY (Jul 17, 2021)

What is your cost of electricity cents per kWh calculated by:
(TotalBill - MonthlyRequiredAmount) / kWh)
Monthly-Required-Amount is something you would have to pay even if you used zero kWh. 

I saw on another thread here someone paying 23c/kWh in MA. That seemed extremely high to me.

My cost here in upstate NY under Central Hudson. This month, July 2021, my electric cost was lower than usual at 12.3c/kWh with Nexamp solar farm discount. It would have been 13.9c/kWh without Nexamp discount. This does not include the $19.50 monthly basic service charge which I would have to payed if I used zero kWh. Average for the year Central Hudson charges approximately 15c/kWh without the Nexamp discount.


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## EbS-P (Jul 17, 2021)

Here  in NC with Duke/Progress total is 12.5 cents per KWh at about 1000 kWhs. Duke keeps asking for double digit rate increases but only got a 5% increase this year.


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## gthomas785 (Jul 17, 2021)

My cost of electricity is $0.24 per kWh. Customer charge is $7 per month.


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## clancey (Jul 17, 2021)

Yea they might charge 0.24 cents per kilowatt but what do they charge for the service?  clancey


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## clancey (Jul 17, 2021)

I think that is terrible--low users and they pay more...clancey


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## gthomas785 (Jul 17, 2021)

The $0.24 that I calculated includes generation and transmission charges as well as all the other BS "renewable energy" surcharges


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## clancey (Jul 17, 2021)

Our items here are different from yours and I think that is terrible paying for all those other things and it looks like a telephone bill with all that stuff on it...My bill reads:  Electric Services for 410 kWh--50,49 and gas 9 therms 19.72..But then they break it down to itemized things like service and facility and summer tiers m transportation cost adjustments and electric commodity adjustments , demand side management cost and on and on like paying for bus service and renewable energy standard adjustments and on it goes--franchise fee's and GRSAE and CACJA and on and on some more...Like if people know what they are paying for--terrible ---they let me know that they were going to change my meter out for a smart box meter and I thumbs down this by calling the company (optional here) and now I have to pay extra each month because I do not want a smart meter...The total for all this above crap is 46.76  and that's added to the bill of 50.49. So its almost as much as my bill for the use of the gas and electric and this is summer time--wait until winter comes...terrible..clancey


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## Brian26 (Jul 18, 2021)

New England has some of the highest electricity prices in the lower 48. Its mainly because the majority of our power plants run on natural gas that is brought in on pipelines. Those pipelines are constrained so the gas is expensive to import. In the winter there sometimes isn't enough gas capacity for the power plants so oil peakers are used. Heating gets priority on the pipelines in the winter. 

The US Energy Information Administration tracks monthly prices.  It all depends on the region. Upstate NY has a ton of cheap hydro. Washington state has some of the cheapest electricity as well from their hydro. 





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						Electric Power Monthly - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)
					






					www.eia.gov
				




CT, Mass, and RI are all paying around. 23 kwh. The one good thing is all these states have some of the best solar incentives in the nation. The payback period on systems in these states is 4-5 years with thousands available in state incentives. The ridiculously high electric rates make your return on investment quick and worth it. 

My electrical bill in CT is just the $9 connection charge every month with solar.


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## DBoon (Jul 18, 2021)

$17/month flat rate connection charge and then $0.08/kWh in the winter, $0.10/kWh in the summer (typical) in Central NY through NYSEG.


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## clancey (Jul 18, 2021)

So your solar hook ups really make a difference?   clancey


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## stoveliker (Jul 18, 2021)

clancey said:


> So your solar hook ups really make a difference?   clancey



Yes, if the panels are dimensioned well to your usage, one should be able to offset most.
I pay 13 dollars per month as a connection fee - and my panels generate all I use (because we have net metering, i.e. my meter runs backwards during sunny days and forward again in the night and cloudy days).


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## peakbagger (Jul 18, 2021)

$13 bucks a month. I havent actually bought any KW for5 years.


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## begreen (Jul 18, 2021)

peakbagger said:


> $13 bucks a month. I havent actually bought any KW for5 years.


The question is, what are the local electrical rates? Not what one ends up paying due to supplemental factors. Locally it's about 11¢/kWh.


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## brenndatomu (Jul 18, 2021)

Just shy of $0.12 per, all in...community owned generation plant though.


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## mar13 (Jul 19, 2021)

About 28 cents kwh in Nor.Cal on  average. Add 7 more cents when over baseline. I am on time of use, so some times of the day it can be as high as 42 cents or as low as 23 during the summer.  I think maybe Hawaii is higher than us...  (Regular gasoline is $4.50/gal here, about the same as Hawaii, typically.)

Unfortunately my house location is not ideal for solar because of trees that aren't mine. It's a good thing air conditioning isn't needed here on the coast.


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## EatenByLimestone (Jul 20, 2021)

It's something like a quarter/kwh once all fees are in.   I'm a low user.    Since the wife is working from home, not as low, but I don't spread the fees out very far.   National grid makes me feel dirty and doesn't even buy me dinner every month.


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## UpStateNY (Jul 20, 2021)

mar13 said:


> About 28 cents kwh in Nor.Cal on  average. Add 7 more cents when over baseline.


Wow what are you folks going to do when everyone goes electric Cars?

Cheapest rates I understands are in South Dakota with coal and State of Washington with hrdro.  The Google search servers are in state of Washington for their cheap power.  Google’s server farm power bill is hundreds of dollars a minute.


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## EatenByLimestone (Jul 20, 2021)

I couldn't find a bill for my house, but I found one for the cabin.  $29.17 with all fees, delivery, etc for 80kwh usage.     A whopping .36/kwh.


I really dont think you're being fair to yourself if you dont count the fees.


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## FramerJ (Jul 20, 2021)

13cents kwh here


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## begreen (Jul 20, 2021)

UpStateNY said:


> Wow what are you folks going to do when everyone goes electric Cars?
> 
> Cheapest rates I understands are in South Dakota with coal and State of Washington with hrdro.  The Google search servers are in state of Washington for their cheap power.  Google’s server farm power bill is hundreds of dollars a minute.


Looks like several states are around 10¢, though this is just averages. Several states have more than one power supplier.




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						Electricity Rates by State — Electric Choice
					

Average electricity rates for each state are displayed in map and table form. Rates are presented in cents per kilowatt hour (kWh).




					www.electricchoice.com


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## UpStateNY (Jul 20, 2021)

begreen said:


> Looks like several states are around 10¢, though this is just averages. Several states have more than one power supplier.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 

*As you can see from the above replies this URL data is all WRONG!!  *


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## stoveliker (Jul 20, 2021)

UpStateNY said:


> *As you can see from the above replies this URL data is all WRONG!!  *



no, it clearly mentions "average rates" per state. So where you live might be quite different from the state average.
Rates vary from utility to utility, so average rates per state are not very useful imho.


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## mar13 (Jul 20, 2021)

UpStateNY said:


> Wow what are you folks going to do when everyone goes electric Cars?
> 
> Cheapest rates I understands are in South Dakota with coal and State of Washington with hrdro.  The Google search servers are in state of Washington for their cheap power.  Google’s server farm power bill is hundreds of dollars a minute.


Our gasoline is higher than most the U.S. too, so when we compare EV refueling costs with high electric costs , it's also compared to high gasoline costs. They also have electric plans where night time recharging is around 13 cents kwh and there is no baseline fee. With those cheaper night rates (11pm  to 7am), however, your day time rates can get very expensive. Also California gives a big subsidy to electric car purchases.  Furthermore, California has a law that is pushing people into paying rates that reflect the cost of electricity to match the time of day rates, such as expensive on summer afternoons when air conditioning is pushing the demand.


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## ABMax24 (Jul 21, 2021)

If you're with a regulated rate provider in Alberta:

Energy cost: 9.769 cents/kwh
Transmissions and distribution: 11.79 cents/kwh
21.559 cents/kwh total

Fixed fees are $54.48 per month.

Of course add 5% GST on top of all this. 

600kwh is the average household consumption in Alberta, for an average bill of $193.03 per month.

Just to compare natural gas is $7.198/GJ delivered to my house including the carbon tax (plus fixed monthly fees) or the equivalent of 2.59 cents per kwh. Pretty easy to see why all residential heating here is done with natural gas, and even why gas stoves and gas dryers are fairly popular.


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## peakbagger (Jul 21, 2021)

Eversource New Hampshire

16.9 cents per KW all in plus $13.91 monthly fee (regardless of usage). Here is the breakdown








Note the state also charges a sales tax on energy use but its fractions of cent per KWh

The distribution charge is what the local utility charges to buy power from independent power producers and deliver it to the house (they do not own any generation so the power cost is listed separately as an energy charge

The transmission charge is tied to the regional grid operator which maintains the distribution system all over the region

Stranded Cost Recovery Charge is to pay for past mistakes between the utility and the state PUC. It used to fund how much the utility lost on getting bailed out of the Seabrook nuclear power plant, lately it is to cover the difference in what the utility sold their power generation assets and what they had them on the book.

System Benefits Charge  is mostly energy efficiency programs. These are usually established by the PUC and funded by a combination of ratepayer money and Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative money (effectively a carbon tax on power generation). I got a big upgrade on my house to improve insulation and infiltration losses about 15 years ago from the program and a mini split rebate. That reduced my heating and cooling costs for the long term.

The energy charge is the "standard offer" by the utility, there are various private power plans available but in most cases they are bait and switch, get a low initial rate but when all the strings are figured in they are rarely lower cost in the long term.

So my first KW is $14.08 dollars per KW, the second would be $7.12 dollars per KW and as I buy more the unit price goes down as the fixed customer charge gets divided by more KW.

NH has a small  SREC market that is manipulated by the utilities to keep it trivial, with my solar production I usually get around $150 to $200 a year so it just about covers my monthly customer fee. Thus in most years I pay zero for power. I try to carry a 500 KWhr minimum surplus on my account from net metering. By law the utility has to offer to buy it from me every year for their average cost of purchase power which is pretty close to the standard rate so I could sell it for 6.627 cents but its lot more advantageous to me to keep the surplus as a cushion so I do not  get caught by a sudden increase in electrical use.


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## Woodsplitter67 (Jul 27, 2021)

not exactly sure whatthe cost is here any more..I just pay a 10 dollar a month connection fee Im net meter


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## Grizzerbear (Aug 2, 2021)

$.085 per kwh with a availability charge of $25 and a county tax of $2.28. I used 1045 key last month with a grand total of $116.11.


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## mellow (Aug 3, 2021)

.14/kwh all in here with my electric coop.


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## Rusty18 (Aug 8, 2021)

11.4 cents just went up to 12.6 cents/kWh here.  Last summer I had one bill with over 3000 kWh on it! 
turned the ac off after that one.  That being said the aerator pump was burning over 1000kwh on its own.


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## brenndatomu (Aug 8, 2021)

Rusty18 said:


> That being said the aerator pump was burning over 1000kwh on its own.


The septic tank aerator? Is that still going on? That's not right...that's 10 times what it should be using, you better get that checked out!
One of the first things would be to pull it out and make sure there isn't a bunch of rags wrapped around the shaft...that will make it pull more juice...after that I'd get the motor checked out, then the wiring going to it,


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## Rusty18 (Aug 8, 2021)

brenndatomu said:


> The septic tank aerator? Is that still going on? That's not right...that's 10 times what it should be using, you better get that checked out!
> One of the first things would be to pull it out and make sure there isn't a bunch of rags wrapped around the shaft...that will make it pull more juice...after that I'd get the motor checked out, then the wiring going to it,


That motor was on its last leg but FLA is 7.5 at 220v.  The new motor pulls around 5.  Same fla rating.  The wiring is fine, checked with the megger from work.


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## old greybeard (Aug 8, 2021)

We’re paying .07 now, was .065 my previous supplier. We do have electric choice in PA, it has helped. And fracking has really lowered prices and emissions.  My total bills in winter with a heat pump, electric water heat and a gas heater, and gad cook stove are about $150. Summer is $69-$85.  But I live off solar at camp about 1/2 of the time.


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## patrickk222 (Sep 15, 2021)

12.57 per kwh in my area i belueve it use to be about 8.5 to 9 cents a few yrs qgo


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## WiscWoody (Oct 15, 2021)

Here in my part of NW Wisconsin we pay 12.4 cents per KWh and $13 a month to be hooked up to the grid. I use about 1800 KWh of power a year and I work at two hydroelectric powerhouses in the area. The company I work for gets $47.50 per MWh of electricity Generated or 4.75 cents per KWh…


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## Dataman (Oct 15, 2021)

Used 1k last month.  We generate all power thru Hydro.    Box Canyon Dam and some from Boundary Dam  (See the Movie "the Postman")

Energy Usage 1,001 kWh @ 0.0612 $61.26
Service Availability Charge $35.50
Electric Service Subtotal $96.76


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## old greybeard (Oct 16, 2021)

Propane costs up 50+%. Will be using electric for the majority of our heat this year at home. Heat pump is cheaper at those prices.


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## WiscWoody (Oct 17, 2021)

old greybeard said:


> Propane costs up 50+%. Will be using electric for the majority of our heat this year at home. Heat pump is cheaper at those prices.


Wood is even cheaper at least mine is.


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## WiscWoody (Oct 17, 2021)

ABMax24 said:


> If you're with a regulated rate provider in Alberta:
> 
> Energy cost: 9.769 cents/kwh
> Transmissions and distribution: 11.79 cents/kwh
> ...


That’s a lot of money for power, I wander if anyone up there has gone solar off-grid because of the high costs there?


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## ABMax24 (Oct 17, 2021)

WiscWoody said:


> That’s a lot of money for power, I wander if anyone up there has gone solar off-grid because of the high costs there?



It is a lot, but you design/upgrade your house around that cost, most people are running all LED bulbs and efficient appliances, our house was new when we bought it so our stove is gas and our clothes dryer is heated by gas too. I'm averaging 225kwh/month on our house.

Solar off-grid really doesn't make sense here, the only situations where I'm aware of it are where grid power doesn't exist or is prohibitively expensive to bring in. Keep in mind the seasonal variation, my 3kw system makes 425kwh in July and about 50kwh in December. The system would have to be grossly oversized for winter loads or extensive use of a backup generator would be required.

Another factor is purchasing power and household incomes, the Canadian dollar is usually worth 20-25% less than the US dollar which makes our prices seem inflated. Also a shortage of skilled labor has occurred for decades here, wages have risen to attract workers, including for electric utilities, the costs of which are passed to consumers through higher power prices.


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## stoveliker (Oct 17, 2021)

Our prices are similar (22 ct in total, I believe). 

But I don't want to go off grid: those living where net metering exists don't need to go off grid to not have a big bill. I put solar on and have since then (and for 20 years from the installation date) only a $13 bill each month because in summer my meter runs backwards and in winter I use those kWhs when my panels don't produce enough. In essence, th grid is my battery. In 20 years that costs me about $3500. Much less than a real battery. 

And by then, I think batteries will even be more affordable.


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## ABMax24 (Oct 17, 2021)

That's right, but up here net-metering doesn't exist, here its called net billing, every kwh of energy imported is charged a transmission fee, a fee that is not returned when power is exported. It's not as attractive to the homeowner this way though. I do understand the reasoning though, if everyone was on net-metering who would pay for upkeep of the grid? This way the grid operational costs still get funding and there is then some incentive to self-consume more electricity to reduce transmission fees.


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## stoveliker (Oct 17, 2021)

Yes, that is what I know from others. 
I don't know what my $13 pays for (grid?),  but it won't be enough.

This is the result of govt incentives to encourage certain consumer behavior. I don't think this is feasible in the long run. I'm just lucky to have gotten in before they realize that... (Same with the fed+state tax credits; I only paid for 45% of my panels - the other taxpayers paid for the rest...)


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## peakbagger (Oct 18, 2021)

Its a big battle between the consumer and the utility with respect to batteries and renewables. The private power companies or publicly owned utilities  want to handle every KW of power. If they own power plants they want to run them, if they have divested the power plants, they want to be the broker handling power generated by others, if there is solar or batteries they want to own them. Why do you think one of Berkshire Hathaway's (Warren Buffet) biggest investments is power utilties?.  Unless folks are completely off grid (no grid available) home batteries and solar are going to be costly to buy per KW than a utility can supply. The one big exception is if the capability to use an EV as a home battery gets commercialized, in this case the battery is sitting there. What has delayed EVs as batteries are two fold issues, the utilities want their fingers in the pie and the infrastructure to go two way via the grid connection has been a problem. much of the grid is set up for radial (one way) power production from central plants, many older substations cant handle power in two directions and needs costly upgrades. I run into this professionally when we try to hook up combined heat and power plants. The customers have to pay for the upgrade to the substations and sometimes these costs can kill the project.  The second problem is EVs are not currently capable of two way power, they can be but there are no standards for this and it will raise the vehicle cost. Stationary batteries are being used for two way power in various utility pilot programs but connecting an EV back to the grid is still problematical.


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## EatenByLimestone (Oct 18, 2021)

WiscWoody said:


> That’s a lot of money for power, I wander if anyone up there has gone solar off-grid because of the high costs there?




Mine is expensive too, however if the usage is low, the payback is slow on a solar system.


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## stoveliker (Oct 18, 2021)

EatenByLimestone said:


> Mine is expensive too, however if the usage is low, the payback is slow on a solar system.



That's why I added a minisplit to heat - saving me also oil cost. (Ok, while adding up front investment, but we wanted some AC anyway.)


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## peakbagger (Oct 18, 2021)

Long term home power storage is not yet a viable product and may never be. Us folks up north need a an affordable "battery" that stores power for six months, so we charge the battery up in the summer and use it in the winter.  There are some "bleeding edge concepts" out there but mostly on the industrial and utility scale like flow batteries where electricity is converted into changing a stable chemical compound to another chemical compound. The compounds are stored in two tanks and when power is needed the chemicals in the charged tank are passed through a device that generates power and then the remaining discharged chemical is sent to the other tank. Its a reversible process  but it still takes a lot of volume of storage. A similar approach generates hydrogen and stores it but hydrogen is difficult to work with and has a low storage density. The Hindenberg was filled with hydrogen.


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## ABMax24 (Oct 18, 2021)

There's the old adage of never say never, but I'm not sure that residential seasonal energy storage will ever be commonplace. For so many reasons it makes more sense to have that technologies on a utility scale to realize better utilization of that asset. To hold that kind of energy in a home would pose a safety risk of some kind from the reactants, I just don't see it being something the average homeowner is capable of dealing with.

There is a similar scenario playing out here right now with commercial solar power, we've went from about 50MW of installed capacity to 336MW in just over a year, the economies of scale make solar PV profitable for private corporations, yet residential solar PV systems are borderline viable without subsidies.


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## EbS-P (Oct 18, 2021)

I’m torn Duke just got a 2% increase plus another 2% in two years which is ok I guess.  But those profits are theirs to keep while they want to pass coal ash clean up on to end consumers.  At times I really want a a deregulated power grid then I look at rates people were paying in Texas this past winter and regulation/monopoly seems ok.  

Up to $0.134 per kWh.


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## Woodsplitter67 (Oct 18, 2021)

WiscWoody said:


> That’s a lot of money for power, I wander if anyone up there has gone solar off-grid because of the high costs there?



Im pretty sure when I switched over to solar I was just about .18 when they got done with me. Glad I did the switch. Haven't regretted it yet, doubt I ever will


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## EatenByLimestone (Oct 19, 2021)

peakbagger said:


> Long term home power storage is not yet a viable product and may never be. Us folks up north need a an affordable "battery" that stores power for six months, so we charge the battery up in the summer and use it in the winter.  There are some "bleeding edge concepts" out there but mostly on the industrial and utility scale like flow batteries where electricity is converted into changing a stable chemical compound to another chemical compound. The compounds are stored in two tanks and when power is needed the chemicals in the charged tank are passed through a device that generates power and then the remaining discharged chemical is sent to the other tank. Its a reversible process  but it still takes a lot of volume of storage. A similar approach generates hydrogen and stores it but hydrogen is difficult to work with and has a low storage density. The Hindenberg was filled with hydrogen.



So you're saying we need our own rigid airship.   


I've always wanted one!   I'm game!


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## Tithis (Oct 19, 2021)

About .24c/kwh, looking at solar in next couple years since Nation Grid does net metering.

I've lived in a couple of cities in the area that have municipal power companies, loads cheaper, nearly half the price. I'm guessing because both had their own power plants and solar farms, that or Nation Grid up-charges a ton.


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## peakbagger (Oct 19, 2021)

Tithis said:


> About .24c/kwh, looking at solar in next couple years since Nation Grid does net metering.
> 
> I've lived in a couple of cities in the area that have municipal power companies, loads cheaper, nearly half the price. I'm guessing because both had their own power plants and solar farms, that or Nation Grid up-charges a ton.


Hard to beat the incentives that are offered in Mass for solar. The standard comment is in Mass if you dont pay for your own solar, you are paying for your neighbor. Mass has all these incentive programs partially funded by the ratepayer base.  The small town power companies do not have to give those incentives (some do). For NGrid and Eversource customers It means built in cost increases every year just to cover the incentives they are paying to commercial and residential customers. Mass also reportedly has an incentive program through a couple of companies where you can get a "free" battery (with some strings attached). Get educated and either buy a copy of Solar Power you home for dummies, or search around the web for an older version. That will give you some unbiased education so you can tell when a solar salesman is lying.


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