Electric Rates to Increase

[Rusty]

Misty Blue,

During the 1990s, the region’s electricity was produced primarily by oil, coal and nuclear generating plants, with very little gas-fired generation. In 1990, oil and nuclear generating plants each produced approximately 35% of the electricity consumed in New England, whereas gas-fired plants accounted for approximately 5%. Coal plants produced about 18% of New England’s electricity. In contrast, by 2011, oil-fired plants produced 0.6% of electricity consumed in New England, and approximately 51% was produced by gas-fired generation. Coal production also fell by about two-thirds. Currently, during median load periods, nearly the entire fleet of dispatchable resources is made up of gas-fired generators, and a portion of the quick-start generators that would be called to respond to a loss of generation is also dependent on the same supply of natural gas.

That being said, why did the ISO let New England get so dependent on Gas fired plants when they must have known that gas is a Just In Time (JIT) type of fuel and the pipe lines were becoming inadequate to supply the amount needed.