Amid a new regulation, 15 towns in Franklin County that have contracted with Colonial Power Group for their municipal energy aggregation program will see the rates for residential users increase, resulting in the average bill being about $7 higher.
The new rate will be $0.14202 per kilowatt-hour. For an average user who uses approximately 600 kilowatt-hours per month, the increase will equate to an additional $6.96 on their monthly bill. The increase will begin with the March meter reads, which will be reflected in the bills that customers receive in April.
Towns impacted include Ashfield, Buckland, Charlemont, Colrain, Conway, Deerfield, Gill, New Salem, Northfield, Orange, Shelburne, Sunderland, Warwick, Wendell and Whately.
During an emergency meeting, Colonial Power Group, which the towns contract with to negotiate with electric companies on their behalf, told participating towns that the increase is necessary to cover the costs associated with a new regulation that requires power companies to store a day’s worth of energy for customers.
“Due to a regulatory event and pursuant to a provision in the electric service agreement, there will be a rate adjustment with the town of Buckland’s aggregation rates for electricity. This is due to ISO New England’s Day-Ahead Ancillary Services Initiative, or DASI. This initiative lessens the need for fast-start generation assets and diminishes the load settled on the real-time market over time,” Buckland Town Administrator Pam Guyette told the Buckland Selectboard earlier this month. “My understanding is that it’s basically paying for these companies to be at the ready to provide power should the power be drawn down to a point where … you see the lights dim and then suddenly these plants all fire up at the last minute and the lights come back on.”
DASI was introduced by ISO New England in March 2025 to “develop a day-ahead operating plan that satisfies both the load forecast and contingency reserve requirements.”
Mark Cappadona, president of Colonial Power Group, explained to the Colrain Selectboard on March 10 that the DASI charge was designed to cover reimbursements to oil plants or other electric companies for bridging the gap and keeping the grid up and running when the usual energy providers cannot meet the need. The charge is meant to help prevent blackouts and ensure people can always heat their homes and turn on their lights.
As described in Gill’s meeting materials from Feb. 9, the cost of two years worth of expected DASI costs was incurred over two days of extreme cold on Jan. 26 and Jan. 27, resulting in a cumulative net cost for First Point Power users in Franklin County at the end of February that was expected to be $58,904. Colonial Power Group, serving as a consultant, negotiates the energy contract, while First Point Power is the energy provider.
“The market extremities of this past week were unimagined and akin to an F5 tornado,” the meeting materials say of the circumstances local towns find themselves under.
After feeling that alternatives were limited, the Gill Selectboard authorized a new contract with First Point Power for the increase. Energy Committee Chair Claire Chang explained that this is not a charge that Gill and other Franklin County towns can bypass.
“It’s an impossible situation for everybody in Franklin County, and also, this DASI charge is not unique to Franklin County, or even to Colonial Power. Every aggregation in the state … has been hit, and they’ve all had to pony up,” she said.
Colrain Town Administrator Diana Parsons told the Colrain Selectboard earlier this month that after hearing concerns from Colonial Power Group, the 15 participating towns agreed to increase the rate.
“Our consultant became very concerned,” Parsons said, referencing Colonial Power Group, “and felt that if we don’t raise the rate at all now, we could be asking for quite a substantial rate increase, like six months down the road into the term of this contract.”
She added that the current rate is still lower than other power companies, and the program is optional; residents can sign up or switch to another provider at any time. Competitors National Grid and Eversource have rates of $0.15372 kilowatt-hour and $0.15629 kilowatt-hour, respectively.
“If you’re a National Grid customer, because their rate is so much higher, you’re still saving money,” Parsons said regarding the energy aggregation program.
Cappadona, mentioning the dramatic difference between what ISO New England anticipated DASI would cost energy providers and what it has actually cost, noted that ISO New England is looking at making changes to the regulations.
“They weren’t off a little bit, they were off tremendously, so these costs have actually ballooned and skyrocketed,” Cappadona said. “What they thought would cost about $140 million through February in truth cost over $1.1 billion.”
Cappadona said Colonial Power Group’s contract allows the company to come to the towns with increased rates when costs are high and with lower rates when costs are low. He added that if ISO New England changes the DASI requirements, which it is looking to do before next winter, Colonial Power Group may be able to come back to the municipalities and lower the rates again.
“If they’re able to bring these costs back in line with their original guidance,” Cappadona said, “I would expect at some point we’re going to come back to you and be lowering this price.”
Staff Writer Erin-Leigh Hoffman contributed to this report.