Mass. AG wants to wait on power plan

www.seacoastonline.com By Associated Press

BOSTON - Attorney General Thomas Reilly is urging managers of New England’s power grid to postpone a plan to create a new method of operating the wholesale electric market.

Reilly, in a letter to Independent System Operator-New England, said the new plan could cause power rates to jump - as much as 14.2 percent in greater Boston.

ISO-New England is scheduled to vote on the plan Thursday.

"Now is clearly not the time to burden consumers with more costs that are beyond their control," Reilly wrote. "Fuel prices, both natural gas and oil, are at very high levels, and may rise even more with the threat of war in the Middle East."

The new plan will set fairer prices for electricity throughout New England, according to Ellen Foley, a spokeswoman for ISO-New England.

Under the current system, all of New England is treated as one wholesale power market, with the costs of "electrical congestion" in areas like greater Boston and southwestern Connecticut, spread to electric ratepayers across the region. The new plan would break New England into eight regional markets, each with its own wholesale price.

Home heating oil prices rise 5 cents a gallon

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - Home heating oil prices across Maine rose an additional five cents per gallon over the past week as the average price statewide reached $1.45, the State Planning Office reported Tuesday.

The price is 34 cents higher than at the same time last year.

Kerosene prices also went up a nickel a gallon, to an average of $1.68.

Cold weather, labor strife in Venezuela and the prospect of war in Iraq have combined to push prices to near-record levels, the planning office said. Falling inventories of heating oil, gasoline and other refined products could mean more increases in the near future, it added.