Electric company choices? (Warwick, East Greenwich, Foster: appliances, house, live)

[JuPano]

Again, new to area - E. Greenwich. Came from small town in Mass that had its own municipal electric co. In 34 years at that address, experienced very few power losses and for pretty short durations when they did occur. The rates were very reasonable as well. Friends in other towns in Mass had Natl Grid with many more outages and longer off times. I signed up for Natl Grid but am wondering about your thoughts on it - rates, reliability, frequency of power losses-(outside of major weather disturbances). Thanks in advance for anything you have to offer.

[boulevardofdef]

Originally Posted by JuPano

Again, new to area - E. Greenwich. Came from small town in Mass that had its own municipal electric co. In 34 years at that address, experienced very few power losses and for pretty short durations when they did occur. The rates were very reasonable as well. Friends in other towns in Mass had Natl Grid with many more outages and longer off times. I signed up for Natl Grid but am wondering about your thoughts on it - rates, reliability, frequency of power losses-(outside of major weather disturbances). Thanks in advance for anything you have to offer.

National Grid is not cheap, but in three years in Rhode Island, first in Warwick and for the past two years in East Greenwich, I haven't lost power for more than a minute or so at a time.

I just got solar panels through SolarCity -- you may want to call and find out if it's a good option for you. They can potentially save you money and you don't have to pay anything up front. A lot of people in EG don't know they're available, as they were just approved for installation here. I think I might be the first house in town to have them (from SolarCity; I've noticed a few others who probably bought them elsewhere).

[JuPano]

Thanks very much for that input. I have a small home - 1000 sq ft - energy star modular - I use as many energy efficient appliances, etc. as possible. I'm hoping I won't get hit too hard by the electric company. Solar may be a possibility down the road - right now I'm just getting myself back in order after this huge move. Thanks again.

[dh1989]

Originally Posted by JuPano

Thanks very much for that input. I have a small home - 1000 sq ft - energy star modular - I use as many energy efficient appliances, etc. as possible. I'm hoping I won't get hit too hard by the electric company. Solar may be a possibility down the road - right now I'm just getting myself back in order after this huge move. Thanks again.

I've been in RI with National Grid for a few years now. Average is about $0.19-$0.20/kWh, using about 200-250 kWh/mo. I have a family member who works for the company and does work with line restoration during storm outages. The urban centers are usually restored first during an outage and the backwoods rural areas (Foster/W. Greenwich CT border areas) can take 1-2 days or even longer depending on how the lines come down. They prioritize the outages that affect the greatest number of customers first. I live near a main road in the suburbs and haven't actually seen an outage longer than a minute or two.