Cool summer weather drives consumption drop

BOSTON –New England’s power grid operator says unseasonably cool weather and the economic recession drove electricity consumption down nearly 6 percent this summer, The Associated Press reported.
ISO New England also warned last week that the region’s heavy dependence on fossil fuels to generate electricity leave it vulnerable to future price volatility, as was the case in 2005 after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and again when oil and natural gas prices hit historic highs in 2008.
Holyoke, Mass.-based ISO said that gas and oil-powered plants generate about 40 percent of the electricity New England, double the national average. &#8226