One of our most read stories in recent days details Maine’s costly dependence on imported liquefied natural gas, or LNG, something else to prey on the minds of consumers this winter.
Coming from Trinidad and Tobago in 2015, the GDF Suez Neptune delivers 3 billion cubic feet of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, to Everett, Mass. New England is the only part of the mainland United States that needs to import LNG. Photo by Steve Marsel, stevemarselstudio.com
The typical Maine household could see an increase of as much as $22 per month on its electric bills next year, Tux Turkel reports, “adding insult to injury” – the cost of electricity per kilowatt-hour for customers in southern and central Maine has already almost doubled since 2021.
Turkel’s report, which explains why New England is forced to import LNG in this fashion, generated a big reaction from readers of pressherald.com. Here are some of our favorite responses from readers.
• “For the last three months, my electric bill has risen from $85 a month to $140. My oil bill, during that time, has risen from $249 a month to $453 a month. Anticipatory pricing? We’re in our mid-80s on Social Security.” – woodsyway
• “Another glaring reason why we need the Clean Energy Corridor. Solar and wind will never be enough to satisfy all of New England 24/7 every season.” – Hawkeye
• “The fossil fuel industry, with the blessing of the environmental community, labels it ‘natural [gas]’ when there is nothing natural in the extraction, transmission, consumption of the number one pollutant on Earth. The environmental groups who also opposed, with their partners in the fossil fuels industry, the transmission of clean hydro power from our neighbors in Canada. The continued reliance on gas to power electric utility plants across New England is costing consumers and the environment. The Clean Energy Corridor is the best option.” – TonyD
• “All this talk about electric rates and no mention of swapping out our light bulbs for LEDs? Using 6 watts where you used to need 60 watts is a no brainer. Instead of assigning blame (pointing at you, Putin) we should be talking about ways to reduce demand and save money.” – PeterStanton
• “’I’ve written about energy conservation countless times and nobody has any interest. That is the root of our problem and until people recognize it nothing will change. Supply and demand – the basis of product cost.” – Snow_in_July
• “Power from the [Hydro-Quebec] corridor would be available to us much sooner than other proposals, and could bridge the gap to the other proposals. A second reason is the hydro power would have gone into the grid, so when Maine’s homegrown power comes online, the hydropower can displace fossil fuels in another state. A third reason is there is execution risk in developing homegrown power, but the hydro dam is already built, thereby eliminating execution risk. Clean reliable power, produced by one of our most steadfast allies, from a dam that is already built and operating, is about the surest bet there is.” – LeeOtis
• “Maybe instead of Massachusetts stopping a pipeline bringing cheaper natural gas to Maine and Maine stopping electric lines bringing cheaper electricity to Massachusetts we could cooperate and everybody would be better off.” – theophiluser
• “Having been in the natural gas industry for 42 years in New England, I can tell you that LNG is imported due to the lack of pipeline capacity to New England for winter supply and the incessant requests from power producers to use natural gas all year long to generate power. It is part of the mix in New England to allow the power producers to use gas all year long instead of just the summer, which was traditional in the 80s and 90s. As long as the Democrats in Congress bury pipeline projects, the need to balance supplies by whatever means necessary this will continue.” – jb
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