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I live in Wallingford and although i am very happy with the lack of power outages....none in over 6 years for me.....the rates don't seem to be the deal they used to be. If you go to any of the companies delivering power since deregulation, the prices look similar or lower then wallingford. Check sites like North American Power for instance. Unfortunately we in Wallingford can't shop around.
As I stated in another post. CL&P charges almost $60 in delivery charges to deliver 700 kwh of power. There are no delivery charges in Wallingford. That is where the savings is. As Jviello pointed out it is however maintained through property taxes.
Also, the town has done a great job of securing low rates for many years to come. The Pierce Power Station combined with 3 peaking generators used during high demand is sold into the ISO New England grid. Wallingford takes in millions a year by selling excess power into the grid. The money is then passed on to customers of the electric division in the form of lower rates.
One thing to keep in mind is that because Wallingford Electric is town owned, they do not have to pay taxes to the town while CL&P does. Often CL&P is one of the highest property tax payers in a town. And guess where the money comes from for those taxes? Jay
I'm on CL&P in Broad Brook/E Windsor and was really blown away at the cost of electricity here in CT.
Back in MA, my electric bill might be $35-$50. Here it was $90, half of which was the actual electricity used, the rest being a gazillion different "fees" for transmission, delivery, etc.
I'm considering switching to a different supplier, which I expect will cut my bill by maybe 10 bucks/month at best unfortunatley.
First, $90 isn't too bad, all things being equal. Depends on what kind of dwelling you're in and its condition. In a free-standing 3-bedroom 1-bath home built around the late 1950's early 1960's with a basement and attic, old insulation, a 15-year-old roof, single-pane windows, a drafty front door, around 1200 square feet total living space, with electric heat, a washer/dryer, electric hot water heater, and central air conditioning, $90 would be dirt-cheap.
If it's oil or gas heat, gas stove, gas hot water heater, no central, and you take your laundry to the laundromat, have upgraded insulation, a properly ventillated roof, and double-pane insulated windows, it might be on the high side for this time of year.
Just had a discussion with my neighbor who is a lineman and he said that Wallingford's Electric is using Hendrix overhead wires. The wires in his words are 10 times stronger/better/reliable than what CL&P and UI are using. Said these wires can take a severe beating from fallen trees, winds, ice, animal contact, etc. Wallingford has a 99.9% electricity reliability rating. This is something that UI and CLP should look into.
For those interested in the technical side of it.
Welcome to Hendrix Wire and Cable, Inc. (http://www.hendrix-wc.com/hendrix/home.htm - broken link)
Click the Aerial Cable Systems Applications pdf for a more detailed explanation.
Just had a discussion with my neighbor who is a lineman and he said that Wallingford's Electric is using Hendrix overhead wires. The wires in his words are 10 times stronger/better/reliable than what CL&P and UI are using. Said these wires can take a severe beating from fallen trees, winds, ice, animal contact, etc. Wallingford has a 99.9% electricity reliability rating. This is something that UI and CLP should look into.
For those interested in the technical side of it.
Welcome to Hendrix Wire and Cable, Inc. (http://www.hendrix-wc.com/hendrix/home.htm - broken link)
Click the Aerial Cable Systems Applications pdf for a more detailed explanation.
CL&P just announced a rate decrease effective Jan 1 for the generation portion of their bill. The amount is $.012, not bad. That brings them in line with alternate suppliers. It will be curious to see if the other guys drop their rates too.
Both CT Clean Option programs are also dropping their rates as of Jan 1.
Heard through a friend that works in town that Wallingford's already extremely low electric rates are about to go substantially down. We have our own in town NaturalGas fired power plant and due to record low natural gas prices the rates are scheduled to drop this spring/summer significantly. We are up there in the top 3 for cheapest electricity in New England and its about to go even lower.
The cheap electric rates are having a huge influence on business in town. Gas is 10 cents cheaper than surrounding towns. My friend works at Stop and Shop and says that pricing storewide is much cheaper than Meriden and North Haven. His manager said its directly due to the electric rates in town. They pay 25k+ a month in electricity and it would be double or more in another town in CT. Also, any new business in the downtown area receives power for half the price for the first year, 40 percent the second year, 30 the 3rd etc.
Bumping this old thread...Look at the electric rates compared to Wallingford now vs Eversource, WFD is in their own league.
UI is also lower than Eversource
Eversource standard service rate: 12.050 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
United Illuminating standard service rate: 10.620 cents per kWh
With Wallingford, I see the service rate is a bit higher than Eversource. Do they just have no transmission fee or something?
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