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Show New England States have an integrated power net- work, but a Maine law embargoes export of power and generating facilities in that State are not inte- grated with those elsewhere in New England. Electric rate surveys of the Federal Power Com- mission since 1935 have uniformly revealed that New England has one of the highest over-all rates in the United States. This is shown in the follow- ing summary of industrial and residential power rates and residential consumption in selected cities of 50,000 or greater population for 1948. City TJ. 8. average, cities 60,000 or over. Low-rate area cities: Knoxvflle, Tenn.......------- Seattle, Wash_____________ Atlanta, Gfa.......________ Ashevflle, 1ST. C....._______ Birmingham, Ala__________ Louisville, Ky____________ Spokane, 'Wash......_______ Nashville, Tenn___________ Tacoma, Wash......_______ Chattanooga, Tenn____..... Connecticut Valley cities: Holyoke, Mass.........------ Springfield, Mass__________ Hartford, Conn___________ New Britain, Conn________ Other New England cities: New Haven, Conn__......-. Bridgeport. Conn_________ Waterbury, Conn_________ Providence, R. I__________ Pawtucket, R. I___________ Worcester, Mass......_____ Manchester, N. H_________ Lowell, Mass......________ Lawrence, Mass___________ Fall River, Mass....._____ New Bedford, Mass_______ Brockton, Mass___________ Boston, MTass........._____ Lynn, Mass.........______ Maiden, AdCass____________ Medford, Ptfass___________ Somerville, Mass_________ Cambridge, Mass_________ Newton, IVIass......_______ Industrial rates av- erage cost per kilowatt- hour » $0.0174 .0108 .0128 .0161 .0147 .0137 .0165 .0118 .0157 .0197 .0195 .0210 .0175 .0175 .0210 .0200 .0198 .0183 .0168 .0198 .0200 .0181 .0188 .0185 .0202 .0203 .0211 .0211 .0202 .0186 .0202 Typical monthly residential electricity bill> $3.64 2.72 3.35 2.75 2.76 2.50 1.70 3.75 3.59 3.62 4.15 3.60 3.60 4.15 4.60 4.61 3.82 4.30 4.66 4.63 4.50 3.89 4.45 4.69 4.21 4.00 4.00 4.69 3.15 4. Annual average energy use in residences Kilowatt hour* 1,493 3,722 5,059 1,958 1,491 4,970 3,937 5,922 4,229 926 1,305 1,860 1,778 1,098 1,144 1,778 837 881 1.209 1,146 800 691 733 744 1,357 896 816 985 1,063 922 l.f •Medium users: 60,000 kilowatt-hours per month (300 kilowatts demand). * Medium users: 100 kilowatt-hours. Source: Federal Power Commission. The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston estimated that average industrial rates in New England are 61 percent: higher than those of the Nation. More- over, this figure includes Maine, where power rates are lower than the New England average. How- ever, power rates in the Connecticut Basin are slightly lower than in the rest of southern New England. Residential electric rates in New England are from 50 to 200 percent higher than in low-cost areas of the country. Residential consumption in New England is correspondingly low. It ranges from a third to a fifth or less of the average residential consumption in low-cost areas. High rates for electric power in New England often have been ascribed, at least in part, to high fuel costs. Prices of fuel in New England are high. The 15 steam plants which account for two-thirds of the total steam-generated electricity in New Eng- land in 1947 paid approximately 40 percent more per heat unit for coal than the average of the 200 largest steam plants in the Nation.1 High trans- portation costs are a prime factor in this high fuel cost. Half the average delivered price of coal in New England consists of transportation charges. Other factors affecting costs are: a higher pro- portion of old and inefficient units than elsewhere in the Nation, a somewhat lower system load factor, and higher administrative expenses. On the other hand, transmission expenses were slightly lower than the national average,2 and New England's com- panies also are not burdened by excessive long-term debts. Inefficient plants are a significant feature in in- creasing production costs. The number of heat units required per kilowatt-hour is 7 percent great- er in the New England plants than the national average.3 This is reflected in an expenditure of 5.2 mills per kilowatt-hour for fuel in the New England plants, as compared to 3.3 mills per kilowatt-hour for the 200 plants in the Nation.* However, even an addition of as much as 57 percent to fuel costs still does not account for some of New England's high rates. Fifty-seven percent higher fuel costs would account for an increase of less than 20 cents in the monthly bill of a 100-kilo- watt-hour residential consumer. While some cities in the region were near the national average, the 1948 monthly bills to medium users in most New England cities was from 35 cents to $1.05 above the national average in similar cities. Monthly pay- 1 Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, "Industrial Power Costs in New England," Monthly Review, June 1950, p. 9. 'Id., pp. 7, 11. 9 Id., p. 9. 4 Id. p. 7. 486 |