This August the State of New Hampshire will be seeing large increases in electric rates. Eversource will be increasing their rates by over 50%, and other utilities in the state will have similar increases.

There is a tool Granite Staters can use to shop their electric energy provider. While there is only one utility that can deliver the electricity to you, you have choices when it comes to who supplies you with the electricity you use. There are many companies – competitive energy suppliers- registered to supply energy to your home or business.

Your electric bill consists of two parts- delivery service and the electricity you use, which is your energy supply service. Your electric utility delivers electricity to you and all customers within its defined service area. The energy supply portion of your bill is for the electricity you use in your home or business. You may continue to buy your energy supply from your electric utility, or you may choose to buy your energy supply from a competitive energy supplier.

If you decide to choose a competitive energy supplier, you will still be a customer of your electric utility for the delivery of electricity to your home or business. Your utility company will still be responsible for restoring power if there is an outage. What will be different is that you will now also be a customer of a competitive energy supplier for the actual electricity that you use.

If you are interested in shopping electric rates, the tool can be found here: https://www.energy.nh.gov/engyapps/ceps/shop.aspx

At that site, you can view the current electric rates, and how long that rate is good for, should you choose to lock in that rate with a contract. Remember, it is important that you read all the terms and conditions of the contract carefully, make sure you select a fixed rate plan with a specified length, and understand what happens when the contract ends.

Additionally, six months from now, Eversource and other utilities will reset their rates. There is always a chance they could go down, but there is also the chance they could go higher.

If you have additional questions, the Department of Energy has a Frequently Asked Questions document on their website that covers most questions you may have. https://www.energy.nh.gov/consumers/choosing-energy-supplier/choosing-energy-supplier-frequently-asked-questions