NStar Proposes Natural Gas Price Decrease as Senate Begins Debate on Energy Bill

The Massachusetts Senate prepares to begin debate on a new energy bill that would ostensibly lower the cost of electricity by opening up long-term renewable energy contracts to competitive bidding and more than doubling the amount of renewables required to be purchased by utilities.

Watch the debate here beginning March 29.

According to the State House News Service "The bill would increase the overall net metering cap from 3 percent to 6 percent of peak load, exempting Class I facilities from the cap altogether as long as the facility’s capacity is under 10 kilowatts or 25 kilowatts, depending on the connection, or if the facility’s generation will not exceed the customer’s consumption over a calendar year.

"The increased cap would allow private customers to sell up to 3 percent of peak load power generation back to the grid, while government entities and municipalities would be allowed to sell an additional 3 percent, providing incentives for on-site renewable energy generation."

In English, that means that customers that generate their own energy, through wind turbines, solar farms, or other generators, will be able to sell three times the energy they produce back to the grid as they are currently allowed to do.

According to a speech made by Senate President Therese Murray, D-Plymouth, the cost of energy is one of the top three concerns that Massachusetts businesses identify with the competitive environment in the state.

"Massachusetts and our neighbors in New England and New York have always had some of the highest electricity prices in the nation," Murray said. "The fact of the matter is that New England states have very little domestic sources of fuel for electricity.

And the last year, and the recent transformer explosion in Boston earlier this month, show that our investor-owned utilities have a long way to go in delivering the quality service we should expect of utilities who currently serve established territories.

But that does not mean we are powerless to do anything about electricity prices, or reliability. We are not.

The bill we are announcing today is essential for the Commonwealth, and I look forward to the House also considering, either separately or as part of a comprehensive package, the municipalization bill the joint committee reported out earlier this year.

According to , Beginning May 1, gas customers can expect the supply price for natural gas to drop by 27 percent compared to last year. The company has submitted a new supply price for its off-peak season of 34.72 cents per therm, down from 47.67 cents. If approved by the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, the average NSTAR customer who uses natural gas for heating, cooking and hot water will pay about $4.60 a month less than last year.

“NSTAR Gas customers continue to benefit from plentiful supplies and lower prices,” said Tom May, NSTAR Chairman, President and CEO. “A growing number of customers are turning to safe, reliable natural gas as their year-round fuel of choice.”

If the proposed price cut is approved, NSTAR customers using an average of 29 therms of gas a month between May and October will pay $33.20 a month, down from $37.81. That represents a decrease on the total bill, including delivery and supply charges, of just over 12 percent.

NSTAR is the largest Massachusetts-based, investor-owned electric and gas utility. The company transmits and delivers electricity and natural gas to 1.4 million customers in Eastern and Central Massachusetts, including more than one million electric customers in 81 communities and 300,000 gas customers in 51 communities. For more information, visit www.nstar.com.