The May 24 edition of the Cape Gazette carried a letter titled "SB 265 is disastrous for ratepayers" by David T. Stevenson. In that letter, he estimated future increases of $200 per year in the cost of electricity. I think that other future things could be worse.
For the record, I am paying more than an extra $200 per year for groceries and restaurant food this year just from inflation. Climate change is going to cost us more too. Sea-level rise will make beach erosion progressively worse, and at some point, the cost of replenishment is going to become a very big deal. Storm damage (and wildfire damage) has gotten much worse, all over but mostly elsewhere. In areas with higher risk, the insurance costs have gone up as much as thousands per year, and in the worst areas, you cannot even get insurance. If our summer temperatures go up higher and for longer, our air conditioning will run longer and raise our electric bills too. NOAA says we are going to get more and worse hurricanes. Hurricane size and wind speed increases have been clocked in recent years too. And power outages are also getting worse, based on a study out of climatecentral.org.
Separate from climate change, the increasing number of houses and retail spaces for businesses in this area are also all going to increase demand for electricity. More electric vehicles are expected in this area and will need charging power. All this will require more generators, and new and heavier grid wiring and upgraded substations, and I don't think an extra $200 per year per bill is near enough for all that. The anti-offshore wind movement wants it somewhere else so the beach view and sunrise can be saved. Any proposed generators onshore – like solar farms – get opposition too. Onshore wind in Sussex County is out of the question. Can you think why? So, it is a can of worms.
My two cents: pay more attention to the whole picture. If the guys with full-time jobs in the power grid business don't keep the supply up to demand, then you can expect more outages, planned or unplanned. You can't do much about that, but you can start thinking about some kind of gas engine or battery backup power (I have some backup power myself, but plan for more). And you best do serious and deep homework, and talk to everyone with real experience before making any decision. There are big trade-offs based on various factors you will have to consider. But in my experience, in the past, even running one light bulb at night while the power was out gave me a good feeling of triumph over adversity. Add a battery-powered fan for summertime heat.
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