Electric Bill Shocker: How to Keep Yours Down

This fall, NStar customers were warned that they could see a 29 percent increase to their electricity bills come January.

If you use the utility, your electricity nightmare might be coming true.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities approved NStars request, so if youre one of their 1 million or so customers in the metro Boston and Cape Cod region, you could be in for a shock when you see your next bill.

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The change which will be in effect until July increases the average residential customers bill by $28, according to the utility. So, the monthly electric bill for the average household in Boston and several nearby municipalities will rise from $95 to $123.

The sudden spike is the result of constraints in the existing regional natural gas pipelines.

Over the past 15 years, natural gas-fired generation has gone from serving 15 percent of New Englanders, to roughly half, according to Northeast Utilities, New Englands largest utility system and NStars parent company. Even though tens of thousands of homes and business have converted to natural gas heating, the pipeline capacity in the region has been keeping pace to deliver it.

Natural gas remains an abundant and inexpensive fuel, NStar spokesperson Rhiannon DAngelo said. But regional pipeline limitations and the growing dependency on gas to produce electricity are pushing the prices higher.

The portion of the customers bills that is increasing is due to the cost NStar must pay power generators (the supplier). It does not affect the cost NStar charges for delivering electricity to homes.

Though delivery charges vary slightly per region, supply charges are increasing to 14.972 cents per kilowatt-hour.

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Electric Bill Shocker: How to Keep Yours Down