Though residential electric rates will continue to climb in New Hampshire come August, the supply cost on customers’ bills will only differ by a few dollars per month regardless of power provider.
Come Aug. 1, average residential electric supply costs will range from about $91 per month on the low end to about $103 on the high end, based on average usage according to New Hampshire’s Public Utilities Commission.
Though the disparity in the cost of providers is limited for now, the long-term future of electric rates remains uncertain. Legacy utilities — including Eversource and Liberty in the Upper Valley — still need to recoup millions of dollars from ratepayers because of past costs that exceeded budgeted expectations.
For the Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire that launched in 2023 with the promise of reduced costs, the electric rates approved for August through January will mark a return to parity after more than a year where CPCNH customers were paying higher rates.
The current price-setting window is one of two periods when electric companies set rates in New Hampshire through the PUC.
Starting in August, CPCNH customers in towns served by Liberty will pay a slightly lower rate compared to those taking service from Liberty.
In towns served by Eversource, CPCNH customers will pay slightly higher rates through community power, but less so than in recent months.
Through the coalition, towns and cities buy electricity for residents to reduce and stabilize energy costs and offer multiple renewable energy options for customers. Traditional utility companies, such as Eversource and Liberty in the Upper Valley, still own and maintain the electricity transmission lines and other physical infrastructure.
The difference in supply rates comes down to how well CPCNH and the utilities do at projecting costs and buying energy in the open market.
Last Friday, CPCNH’s Board of Directors approved new residential rates for August through the end of January, Clifton Below, a CPCNH board member, past president and Lebanon resident said in a Friday email.
Residential CPCNH customers who use physical infrastructure through Liberty will pay 14.729 cents per kilowatt hour of energy.
Meanwhile, Liberty residential customers will pay 15.835 cents per kilowatt hour starting in August, according to a June 18 order from the commission.
Liberty initially proposed a 21.128 cent rate to make up $8.5 million in past under-recovered costs, when Liberty didn’t charge enough to cover its expenses. But the PUC ordered the lower rate because of concern for “serious rate shock” for customers.
For a customer using 650 kilowatt hours of energy per month, the upper end of average residential usage according to the Public Utilities Commission, CPCNH customers will pay about $96 a month and Liberty users will pay almost $103 per month.
CPCNH residential customers in towns where infrastructure is owned by Eversource will pay 14.949 cents per kilowatt hour, or about $97 a month.
Eversource residential customers not enrolled in community power will pay 14.009 cents per kilowatt hour, or about $91 a month.
The public utilities commission approved Eversource’s proposed rate for August through January on June 25. The rate includes about a cent per kilowatt hour to start to recover more than $25 million in past under-collected costs.
Both Eversource and Liberty partially attributed under-collections to a change in the way the state commission requires companies to purchase electricity.
The approved CPCNH rates cover the cost of operations and include 0.668 cents per kilowatt hour to build up the organization’s reserve funding, an addition the nonprofit plans to continue to reduce “as the organization matures financially,” Executive Director Henry Herndon and Deana Dennis, director of regulatory and legislative affairs for the nonprofit, wrote in a joint letter earlier this month.
New Hampshire Consumer Advocate Don Kreis is recommending that Liberty customers who can access CPCNH consider switching sooner than later, he wrote in a Friday blog post. As for Eversource customers, Kreis said the less than one-cent price difference makes the choice “a toss-up.”
But, while customers on community power can opt in or out of the program at any time, Kreis recommended not waiting to make the decision.
Customers have to switch electric service before the power company reads the meter for July, or risk being stuck with their supplier for August, Kreis explained.
“Look at your most recent bill now,” he wrote. “Think about whether you can save money by switching now.”
CPCNH launched in New Hampshire in 2023 as a way to reduce electricity costs and give customers an easy way to use more renewable energy. Customers in participating towns can opt in or out of the program at any time or “opt up” to use more renewable energy.
CPCNH served over 185,000 customers across 50 towns in 2025, according to the organization.
When it launched, CPCNH offered lower electric rates than private utilities for two years, before having to raise rates in March 2025 to recoup losses of its own. Since then, CPCNH rates have been higher than legacy utilities.
The flux has caused some uncertainty around the state, though Upper Valley communities have stood firm and the nonprofit maintains that other benefits, such as the option to use more renewable energy or fund community energy projects, still make the CPCNH worthwhile without major monthly savings.
Enfield, Hanover, Lebanon and Plainfield were in the first round of communities to adopt community power in 2023 after a change in state law made the programs legal in New Hampshire. Lyme, Grantham, Newport, Charlestown and New London have since launched community power, while Canaan and Sunapee are ready to go when rates come back down and Cornish and Springfield are in the planning phases.
In Canaan, where residents are served by Liberty, the new rates may mean it is finally time to launch the program voters approved last March. Customers in Sunapee, where Eversource is a main electric provider, will have to continue to wait.
