South Pack Solar installs an array on Gilson Road in Jaffrey. Staff photo by Ashley Saari—

Greg Blake, owner of South Pack Solar installs an array on Gilson Road in Jaffrey. Staff photo by Ashley Saari

With cost hikes for home heating already hitting consumers, and the cost of electricity set to more than double for Eversource customers this August, more people than ever are turning to alternative energy sources, according to local suppliers and installers.

But lingering employee shortages and supply-chain troubles may mean a long wait for those ready to take the leap into a new renewable energy system for their home.

Eversource has been approved for an energy service rate of 22.566 cents per kilowatt hour for residential customers, effective Aug. 1 through Jan. 31. This is a 112 percent increase in power supply costs, compared to the previous rate, according to the Public Utilities Commission.

What that means for the average consumer, who uses about 650 kWh per month, is an increase in a monthly bill from about $145 to about $222 – a 53 percent hike.

Home-heating costs are also on the rise. According to the Energy Information Administration, at the end of March, the value of home heating oil was $5.20 per gallon. That compares to a cost of $2.82 the year prior, and a value of $3.32 per gallon at the start of 2022.

With the expected increases, more people are becoming interested in renewable systems.

Greg Blake, owner of the Peterborough-based South Pack Solar, said he has been at his full capacity for solar installations for the past several years, and this year is set to be his busiest yet. He said there has been a rise in people interested in solar battery storage systems, to have access to power even when the grid is down, such as during power outages.

Blake said his supply chain has remained “surprisingly stable,” but the price of modules has increased recently, due to an investigation into some Chinese manufacturers who were suspected of attempting to avoid U.S. tariffs by shipping their modules through countries with lower tariff costs. Those modules were pulled from the market, and other Asian manufacturers increased their prices amid the scarcity.

While the solar panel supplies have been consistent, if more expensive, Blake said, there has been supply scarcity for electric equipment.

Blake said those changes will mean new customers will likely be facing a cost increase in the next several months if they purchase a solar array – as high as 10 percent. But he said because of the expected increasing costs of electricity for most consumers, there will also be a bigger savings.

Mark Froling, owner and president of Froling Energy in Keene, which specializes in full-service biomass boiler systems that use wood chips and wood pellets instead of heating oil or propane, said the company is busier than ever, with a 20 or 30 percent boost in recent inquiries.

Froling Energy mostly focuses on larger systems for commercial businesses, municipalities or school districts, so they are often working on a timeline of more than a year from that first call to installation, while towns go through a budgeting or Town Meeting cycle, Froling said. But the business is already fully booked for the next nine months, and is scheduling installs as far out as next spring, which he said is not typical.

“We’re in quite high demand right now,” Froling said. “It’s a little panic-driven, and we’ve seen this before – in 2008, and 2010, during the last energy crisis, when we saw $4 or $5 in costs for fuel oil. This feels similar.”

A biomass system, like many renewable energy systems, comes with an upfront cost, but results in lower energy costs moving forward. For large entities, those savings can be significant, and with hikes like those expected this year, exponentially worse than for residents.

Froling said he saw this potential boom coming, and the company has been attempting to prepare, including working around ongoing supply-chain delays.

“We’re trying to secure more supplies, and it’s difficult right now. It takes longer than it has in the past, but we’re just trying to prepare more ahead of time and hold more parts in stock,” Froling said. “Most items, the wait time is about four weeks, but there are certain small, industry-specific items where the wait time might be as long as 20 or 40 weeks.”

Froling said he’s also attempting to hire an additional three workers, to get back to a pre-COVID staffing level of 15 employees, though he said that has been a challenge.

Dan Weeks, vice president of business development at Revision Energy, which installs solar, heat pumps and charging stations for electric vehicles, said the company is also looking to add a significant number of employees this year to keep up with an increase in demand.

“We are certainly seeing that increased demand,” Weeks said. “We wish we could get a call and show up the next day for a site inspection and design, but that’s just not possible with the current level of demand. Site visits we’re scheduling a few months out, and installs are into the new year.”

Weeks said Revision, which has five branches in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, is currently hiring for 30 positions across the spectrum of the business, but with a heavy lean toward trade positions, including installers, electricians and electrician’s apprentices. Those positions are all new growth for the company in the past year, Weeks said, with a goal of growing the company to a total of 400 employees.

“We wish we could hire fast enough,” Weeks said.

Weeks said the cause of the delays is mainly due to the high demand and the gap in the current workforce to meet it, though he also said there have been some issues gaining custom electrical gear.

While solar is the largest part of the business Revision does, Weeks said demand is up for all their technologies, particularly public electric-vehicle charging stations and battery systems for solar arrays.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.

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