Last Christmas Eve, in the middle of an historic cold snap, the New England power grid came close to going dark. Thirty-six different power plants failed to deliver promised energy, and grid operator ISO-New England (ISO-NE) was forced to implement emergency operating procedures, stopping just a few steps short of asking the public to help by voluntarily cutting back on electricity use.
ISO-NE was not the only grid operator to face unexpected power plant outages that day, but in a region where electric rates had recently skyrocketed, the appeal for customers’ help would have been particularly frustrating; rates had been driven up specifically to accommodate an expensive fuel-subsidy arrangement that the ISO claimed was necessary to keep the grid running smoothly during cold weather.
The good news for New Englanders is that a more effective solution for winter…
Read the full article originally published at blog.ucsusa.org.