Electricity bill - transportation charges? (renter, house, water heater)

[Apapermaker]

No complaining; if anything, this February we learned that electricity is more reliable in NH than in our home state of Texas
Then, we came back South after semi-winterizing our place, to clean, prep the place here for renter or sale. We left everything set to the minimum (water heater), or off (room heaters). Oil is main heating, the thermostat set to 40. We're now finishing cleaning here (seems like we'd never get done), and we received our first "remote" electric bill. $75? What? (that, besides the previous one being "past due." Despite having set autopay. Whatever)


To begin with, I am confused about there being different electrical companies I can choose from(?) in NH. Here in Texas, you pay the City, and that's as much choice you have, but leaving the house empty is just a few bucks (and then of course you froze this year, some folks a full week without power, but they say it was a once-in-a-lifetime event, fine)


Anyway, the question is, our NH electric use billed was like $21.
OK fine, the water heater is still on, even if set low, and a couple lights on timers.

But then, more than $50 of "transportation charges?" We tried to get the electricity company to explain, but made no much sense of that. Got the impression that "that's the way it is." Which I guess we can get used to. Are those "transportation charges" like a set minimum, that they charge you, whatever? It does feel a bit excessive.


Any insights?


Thank you!

[North Beach Person]

Part of deregulation. Transport the electricity over the wires to your house.

This article calls the charge "transmission and distribution charges".

https://energywatch-inc.com/utility-...ion-vs-supply/

[robr2]

Here are links to both Eversource and Unitel bills.

As you can see there are sections for power generation and power distribution. There is always a minimum for power distribution via the "customer" charge.

And in Texas you can pick your power provider as well. I'm guessing you went with the default provider which I'm guessing is the aggregator for your municipality.

[Nonesuch]

Standby usage on a resistive electric storage tank water heater can add up fast, but if you're keeping the basement from freezing with your oil heat, you can just turn off the electric water heater entirely (flip the breaker).

What you don't want to do is turn the water heater down to the lowest temperature setting, that's how you end up breeding stuff in the tank.

Originally Posted by Apapermaker

We left everything set to the minimum (water heater), or off (room heaters). Oil is main heating, the thermostat set to 40....

If you are turning the heat down that low, you really should drain the pipes and heater entirely, and put RV antifreeze in all the drain traps. When the house is kept at 40F, pipes can freeze!

Originally Posted by robr2

As you can see there are sections for power generation and power distribution. There is always a minimum for power distribution via the "customer" charge.

The main "fixed charge" is that customer charge, the rest is based on usage, and this is shown in the bill details (each line will have a ###kWh x 0.xxx multiplier before the dollar amount)

I've never gotten my bill so low that I saw a minimum power distribution charge

[Sweetbottoms]

When we lived there my husband went ballistic the first time he saw that. Our heat was $400 a month and half of that was “delivery fees”.. I’ll never forget him telling the lady “unless you’re physically bringing this electricity over in a god damn bucket then you’re not delivering s$!t to me” .. it’s the only state I’ve lived in that had that charge. Here in NC our heating and electric stay under $100 a any season and in the summer gas is a flat $10 fee a mo. We’re around 2000 sqft here and I think we were maybe 600-800 sqft there

[abnfdc]

Originally Posted by Sweetbottoms

Our heat was $400 a month and half of that was “delivery fees”

Ouch. I thought it was bad when my February electric bill hit 250 and my March one was 180.


NHEC looks to be about 0.04031 per kWh for delivery charges.

[unit731]

Deregulation.

Has no one mentioned that New Hampshire deregulated the electric sourcing companies about 20 years ago. ?

Pick and choose.

[Nonesuch]

Originally Posted by unit731

Deregulation.
Has no one mentioned that New Hampshire deregulated the electric sourcing companies about 20 years ago. ?
Pick and choose.

You can choose your "supplier", but you are stuck with your transportation ("Delivery Services" aka "transmission and distribution") provider. Only the "Supplier Service" part of your bill changes.

[karen_in_nh_2012]

OP, you will likely get lots of mail from various energy suppliers in New Hampshire trying to get you to switch to them.

I have Eversource (the main supplier, I think) and have thought a few times about switching ... then I read the fine print and I see that the low rate the new company offers is good for all of 3 months (or whatever), then it can jump HIGHER than Eversource. So I might save literally $8 total for the first 3 months, then who knows?

Maybe some have made out well after switching, but it hasn't seemed worth it to me.

[KCZ]

I wouldn't switch providers just to save a few bucks until you check out their outage rates and time to complete repairs. Eversource always seems to lag behind in restoring service. Caveat emptor.