We’ve covered the issue of rising electric rates in the Granite State at length on these pages, and that’s great, but nothing hurts like the experience of opening the envelope and side-eying the actual total each month.
Related: The Real Reason Eversource Raised its NH Electric Rates 110%
As if looking at it that way will soften the roundhouse you’re about to take. And this is entirely unnecessary. From my experience, we are spending about twice as much on electricity. My bill went from $100-130 to 250+ dollars a month. That’s money we are not spending in local restaurants or giving as tips to hard-working waitstaff.
And that is with us trying to use less to recoup some of that loss.
We’re not saving it for a project or a trip to the beach or the white mountains. We won’t be investing it for retirement. It’s gone, and that’s almost 1500.00 dollars a year extracted from the economy to cover my “cost of doing business,” whether it’s your home or your business. Costs that are piling up on business owners as well passed down as the increased costs of goods and services, which we are also paying.
Taxes? Don’t take to me about local tax relief when your energy policy drives up the cost of government utility bills, fuel for vehicles, and all the products and services they require. We pay for all of that too.
It is what I have (for more than a decade) called the triple threat. Rates go up, and you get screwed (at least) three ways.
But New Hampshire Democrats are not done screwing you over on this issue. They want more so you can have less.
State Rep. Rebecca McWilliams (D-Concord) says the $40 million in rebates New Hampshire ratepayers are currently receiving on their electric bills isn’t their money and she wants it back.
McWilliams commented on a House Science, Technology, and Energy Committee hearing on behalf of HB418, which would re-direct collections from the Energy Efficiency Fund away from individual ratepayers and give the money to the state.
The Dems want the state to seize these assets so that bureaucrats and policymakers can make purchasing decisions. The claim is that these will be directed at energy efficiency improvements. But if efficiency is the goal, keeping it as far from the government as possible is the best course.
Rate Hike Rebecca disagrees.
“Instead of doing a refund, the money stays in the fund where it is intended to have long-term market impacts to adjust for our overreliance on fossil fuel and natural gas in the market,” McWilliams said. ..
[the current rebate is about 30.00 per ratepayer]
…“That $30 does not belong to the ratepayer, but we’ve decided as a legislature to refund it over time. This bill corrects that.”
It doesn’t belong to the ratepayer. Really? Does Rebecca Williams know how RGGI works? It artificially increases operating costs which are passed down to… say it with me, ratepayers. They pay those costs, which – since we can’t seem to get anyone to repeal RGGI and let them keep their money – a past legislature and governor voted to return to them.
In other words, Rate Hike Rebecca is not the brightest bulb in the pack.
It may only equal the cost of one cup of coffee each month over twelve months, but it’s your money, and you’ll do more to see it used effectively than any politician or bureaucrat ever could.
We also know that the goal is to milk the RGGI cow as hard, fast, and often as possible. Expand the energy policy that has made electricity unaffordable for middle and lower-income Granite Staters.
And there is no plan ever to get it to go down, which for Dems applies to the cost of government (and everything else). Any left-wing lips that claim they want tax relief are lying. They want (need!) more money to pay for more government, and to do that, they need to find ways to raise taxes without you noticing.
Giving the government a 40 million a year raise in revenue is just a drop in that bucket, but they’ll take every drop if you let them.
NH Dem Wants Your Electric Bill to Be Even Higher!
We’ll close with a walk down Democrat memory hole lane …