Low methane-power production, high cost of natural gas blamed for proposed WEC 14% hike
lines maintained by Washington Electric Co-op (WEC photo).
On Monday, the Vermont Electric Cooperative filed a rate increase of 8.19% for the new year.
That filing with the Vermont Public Service Board comes after Washington Electric Cooperative filed a rate increase of 14.19% earlier this fall.
WEC, based in East Montpelier, serves customers in Bradford, Chelsea, Corinth, Groton, Newbury, Orange, Peacham, Ryegate, Vershire, and elsewhere in north central Vermont.
WEC cited declining production at its Coventry landfill gas-to-electricity plant and high prices on the volatile wholesale market as the primary drivers behind the rate increase.
“Necessary work by Casella at the landfill to expand its capacity, which began last year, resulted in less usable gas reaching WEC’s plant,” wrote WEC General Manager Louis Porter in the utility’s newsletter. “That decrease in production over the winter coincided with a cold January and with global volatility in the supply and cost of energy. That was based largely on the natural gas supply and cost, much of it related to the war in Ukraine.”
VELCO also cited the rising cost of wholesale power purchases in its rate increase filing with the Public Service Board.
Republished from the November 16 free online newsletter of the Journal-Opinion, the community newspaper for Bradford and surrounding towns in three Vermont counties and in New Hampshire.