New England Online > Geography > Utilities & Services > Electricity Network
Electricity Network
New England has an open and deregulated electricity market, but still provides a sufficient level of protection to consumers. The generation and distribution of electricity is provided separately from the retailing of power to consumers of the national electricity market.
Owing the lack of fossil fuels in New England, almost all of the electricity generated is by renewable means.
In a unique act, the vast majority (something like 98%) of New England's power grid is buried underground. This was done partly as security measure but it was also an atheistic choice made by the people at great cost. Likewise, the majority of the telecommunications cables are also buried or are provided via high-speed microwave radio links.
Generation & Distribution
All electricity is generated by the Electricity Commission of New England or ELCOM. Elcom is a crown statutory agency and has a monopoly in the production of all of New England's energy needs. ELCOM was established in 2013 to facilitate the separation of the New England and Australian national power grids. That process was completed in late 2015 and since that time, both countries have run independent power grids.
Consumption
There are three separate electricity retailers or power companies in New England. Two are private companies, while the third is a Crown Corporation. Initially, each retailer was a CSA, and was charged with provision in a certain geographical reason. In 2034, two of these companies were privatised, while the third was corporatised but has remained in government hands.
New England Electricity CC
New England Electricity or NEE is the sole Crown Corporation in the electricity market. It continues to dominate the electricity market, and has a share of 65% of all electricity consumers in New England.
Pacific Energy PLC
Pacific is the largest of the two private power companies. Currently, Pacific's share is 22% of the market. The company was privatised in 2034 as part of the Tudor Government reforms and is now the major supplier to large scale manufacturing and retail businesses.
Millennium Electric PLC
Millennium is the smallest of the three electricity retailers in New England with just 13% of the market. When it was privatised the new company suffered a number of setbacks, the worst being a billing mix up in 2044 that overcharged customers by 200%. Recent efforts to restore the companies market share have been moderately successful and it now seems likely that Millennium will survive the next few years.
