EarlyBird News

Nevada is seeking to deregulate its energy market for the second time in 30 years in hopes to reduce electricity rates for its citizens and businesses. Legislature preventing this may soon be passed, as a vote in 2016 was a landslide victory to appeal the previous deregulation effort in the 1990’s. The final vote for […]

Last week, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker’s administration introduced a bill for a policy that would stipulate more use of clean energy during Massachusetts’ hours of peak demand grid. The policy represents an allocation of $1.4 billion toward climate change and environmental protection. The bill, Clean Peak Standard, would align with the state’s greenhouse gas reduction […]

In January, the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) released the final regulations for its Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART), a new solar program that eliminates and replaces the Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SREC) program. The SREC program allows investors to trade credits for their clean power on an open market. But SREC reached its […]

This week, Eversource Energy (formerly known as NSTAR) filed proposed basic service electric rates with the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) for large commercial and industrial customers in eastern Massachusetts (both northeastern and southeastern). The rates are effective starting April 1, 2018 and are for April – June. The proposed electric rates (subject to […]

Auction secures sufficient resources to meet demand at the lowest clearing price in five years ISO-NE’s headquarters in Holyoke, MA On Thursday, February 8, ISO New England Inc., the Regional Transmission Organization (RTO) serving New England, released the preliminary results for its 12th annual capacity auction (FCA #12). The auction is designed to procure resources […]

On Thursday, the New Hampshire Site Evaluation Committee (SEC) denied an essential state permit to Northern Pass Transmission, a $1.6 billion Eversource project that would deliver Canadian hydropower to Massachusetts via a 192-mile transmission line. Massachusetts gave preliminary approval to the project as recently as last week. The committee argued the project failed to show […]

This week, National Grid, citing unusually low temperatures this winter, sought approval from the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission for an increase in natural gas rates. Utilities in New England have had to increase rates because they did not stockpile enough supply to deal with the cold weather. Increases will cover the higher costs these […]

Last Thursday, Massachusetts gave preliminary approval to Eversource’s $1.6 billion Northern Pass proposal. Northern Pass would be the largest procurement of renewable energy in the history of Massachusetts. It was selected among bids submitted under the Global Warming Solutions Act, a law passed that was passed two years ago calling for a boost to the […]

This past Monday, President Trump decided to impose tariffs on imported solar panels in what could be his biggest blow to renewable energy thus far. Since his inauguration, the Trump administration has undermined the renewable energy industry in several ways. It has withdrawn the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement, backed out of Obama-era regulations […]

In November, Eversource Energy filed basic service electric rates for its Massachusetts customers for the period starting January 1, 2018 that marked a 20% increase from previous rates. At the time, Eversource customers expected to see a $37 million increase—$12.2 million for customers in eastern Massachusetts (previously under NSTAR service), and $24.8 million for customers […]