Fairpoint Energy
 

Has anyone seem or heard any information about this program? www.fairpointenergy.com It looks like the kwh are at .06 for the first year. This is a signifigant savings and apparently it all comes from wind energy.

Not sure about them, but we signed up with Resident Power.

Yes, the generation fee drops a bit, but all the other fees and taxes pretty much stay the same.

I would probably say our house uses more electricity than the "average" house. There are a number of computers powered up 24/7, A/V equipment running, etc. I think we save like $8-$10/month on average on a ~$160 electric bill.

It's "free money" and easy to sign up, but the savings tend to be fairly small.

There was great fanfare about a decade ago when the state of NH deregulated parts of the electrictiy industry. Lots and lots of competition would bring down residential bills.

Here we are 10 years later with only one other company offering such.
The unit cost is slightly lower. And that is real money.

It appears that one has to sign a one or two year contract.

Not sure if there are any other fees required when one switches. Or any other issues when one switches.

Do you know if Resident Power serves NHEC? What rate do you pay per Kwh? It looks as if Resident Power uses mostly natural gas for its supplies. Fairpoint Energy indicates it uses mostly "renewables."

Watch carefully
 

In response to lower the cost to receive electricity from PSNH, the information stated that the cost would be .06 per KWH.

With NHEC, the cost of the power source is .03664 per KWH.

I think this is why most of the "energy cost groups" don't mention NHEC in their push to get your business.

NHEC Costs
 

From my last NHEC bill:

Delivery Charge KWH x 0.03664
System Benefit Charge KWH x 0.00330
NH Consumption and BET KWH x 0.00082
REGIONAL ACCESS CHARGEKWH x 0.01906
CO-OP POWER KWH x 0.06888

I think the only charge that is replaced is the power kwh charge. Sounds like it would be a 0.00888 per kwh savings by changing. All the other charges would remain even if you change to the other service. For an average 300kwh bill you would save about $2.66, not worth it IMHO.

Interesting fine print from the web site, savings only guaranteed for the first year of service:

Our limited time offer of 10% savings is for our FairPoint Energy Savings product in Maine and our FairPoint Energy Green product in New Hampshire and does not apply to our FairPoint Local Wind product in Maine. The limited time 10% savings applies to your first year of service with FairPoint Energy. Your variable rate for electricity service may fluctuate monthly based on market conditions and may be higher or lower than the standard offer service in your utility service area in any given month. Over the course of your first 12 months of service, we guarantee you will save at least 10% on your aggregate electricity supply costs compared to what you would have paid your local utility for electricity standard offer service supply for in the same period. In order to receive the 10% guaranteed savings you must remain a FairPoint Energy customer for the full 12 months and there are no further guarantees after the first 12 months.

*emphasis added*

Essentially, yes. I need to get out one of my power bills and post better details, but the savings are pretty small.

FWIW, Resident Power didn't require any contracts or anything.

That's the trouble, the power companies have all these other fees, the KWH are usually the least of the cost.

"1. Appointment of Agent: You hereby appoint Resident Power as your exclusive agent, for a period of 12 months from the date of enrollment, to
act in your name, place and stead in any way which it could act with respect to researching, negotiating, executing, terminating, assigning, rescinding
and delivering, electricity supply and service agreements with competitive energy suppliers, sellers or service providers."


LINK

Resident Power
 

I use them for our home in Nashua. Rares for 2013 will be .0699 PSNH rates are much higher, they are requesting a rate increase to something over .090. That's for the actual power you use. All other charges are the same, but there is some savings. NHEC may have the lowest actual rates for power, but their other charges are higher than others, including a monthly membership of something over $20/month. If you use a lot of power, I guess you could benefit from the lower rates and the membership fee becomes somewhat insignificant. But if you are a summer resident, using relatively low amounts of power, you get wacked with the highest overall electric bills, and you have to pay the membership fee off season, even if you turn off all power to the house in the winter. Of course, all of us who are "rich" enough to own second homes shouldn't complain about being screwed by NHEC.
Can anybody remind me what I'm getting for that $20 plus membership fee?

As far as wind power goes I urge anyone that is for it to realize what the effect is of supporting it. I have family that lives in Alexandria. There is talk about putting a windfarm on a mountain range there. This would be within 1 mile of my fathers house. He purchased his house to be out in the woods and now he potetially is going to have a massive wind turbine that stares him in the face everytime he walks out of his house. The worst part is the energy from this specific farm is going to out of state.

Here is a link to some info:
http://www.newhampshire.com/article/...WS06/121229964

Also when NHEC, PSNH, Liberty and Unitil customers ask why they pay a "benifit" fee or something along those lines I urge you to look into it. I do energy audits for a living and all these Utility companies pay 50% up to $4000(instant rebate) twords making your house or buisness more efficient by using inulation, air sealing and electric saving measures. On top of this there are rebates twords new heating systems, hot water heaters, and much much more.

Will

Hi Will,

What kind of energy audits do you perform? Blower door and IR, etc.

Thanks!

I am a BPI(building performance inspecting) certified auditor. I use a blower door, Infared camera and all the tools necessary to test the combustion zone/heating system.

Will