A welcome update! Needham’s Community Energy Aggregation program, known as Needham Power Choice, is on its way to becoming reality, and the Town would like your feedback.
Needham Power Choice is a form of group electricity purchasing that pools the buying power from residents and businesses across Needham, allowing the Town to negotiate with electricity suppliers on behalf of its residents. The program’s goal is to stabilize prices and increase the amount of renewable energy being fed into the electric grid. Community Energy Aggregation was identified by the Climate Action Planning Committee as the single most impactful near-term action that the Town can take to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.
On Tuesday, December 5th, the Program was presented to the Needham Select Board, opening up a 30-day public comment period which runs until 5:00 PM on January 5, 2024. Needham’s draft Aggregation Plan, which will be submitted to state regulators for review and approval, is available for public comment at NeedhamPowerChoice.com. Hard copies are available from the Town Manager’s Office in Town Hall. Needham residents and business owners are encouraged to review the Plan and submit written comments via email or U.S. mail. See details.
Please keep in mind that the draft Plan and related documents do not discuss pricing. They discuss the overall goals of the program, including how we will ensure that everyone benefits from Needham Power Choice. There are also some very specific State requirements that must be addressed in the initial Plan and filing.
What are the next steps?
In October 2022, the Special Town Meeting voted to authorize the Town to move ahead with a Community Energy Aggregation program. After a thorough search and RFP process, the Town engaged a consulting firm to help with development of the aggregation plan, which will be known as Needham Power Choice.
The plan still requires approval from the State before the program can begin. Once approval is granted, our consulting firm, Massachusetts Power Choice, will begin an information campaign to reach all members of the Needham Community, with an emphasis on underserved populations. They will also begin the process of procuring electricity from competitive energy suppliers. The actual price of power, and percentage of renewables, will not be known until bids are received. Typically, aggregations like ours will procure power and fix prices for an initial three-year term. By contrast, Eversource changes its rates every six months, sometimes with extreme price swings. By law, an aggregation cannot promise cost savings. However, Needham Power Choice’s goals are competitive pricing, price stability and increased renewable energy.
Needham residents and businesses will be automatically enrolled if they are currently getting “basic service” electricity supply from Eversource. Customers will also have the option to “opt-out” of the program and remain with Eversource. (Those who have third-party electricity suppliers will not be automatically enrolled, but will have the option to join Needham Power Choice.) And for everyone, Eversource will remain as the deliverer of power, maintaining power lines and infrastructure, handling customer service, responding to outages. As required by State Law, the program will have better consumer protection standards than are required when consumers directly purchase through a third-party electricity supplier.
Needham Power Choice will have three options:
Needham Standard will provide additional electricity from renewable sources, beyond the 26% minimum clean and renewable energy currently required by the state. The goal is also to maintain a price at or near the Eversource basic service rate.
Needham Basic will provide price stability but have no additional electricity from renewable sources beyond the minimum required by state law. It is expected that this will be the least expensive option in the program.
Needham 100% Green will ensure that all of your electricity comes from renewable sources.
More details will be forthcoming. State approval of the program is required, but we are hopeful that Needham Power Choice will launch in late 2024. Please see the Needham Power Choice website for more information and for frequently asked questions.
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Submitted by Nick Hill. |
