Saving residents money on their electric bills is a new municipal service that is paying off and spreading in Franklin County.
Greenfield is entering its third year buying power for its residents from green generators at below-standard rates. This coming year, the town’s aggregation of residential and commercial electricity customers will bring 12 to 21 percent savings over Eversource Energy, the default retailer of electricity in most of Franklin County.
Customers of Greenfield Light & Power, the town entity that seeks out cheap electricity on the wholesale market for the collective, will be getting 20 percent of its electricity from solar and 80 percent from wind.
The average residential customer will see a savings of just over $20 a month, for 600 kilowatt hours. Eversource’s residential basic service rate will be 9.126 cents per kilowatt hour starting in January. The Greenfield Light & Power rate is a savings of just under 12 percent for residential customers over Eversource’s Basic Service. Savings for small commercial and large commercial are 14 percent and 21 percent over Eversource’s expected winter rates, the town projects.
By bulk purchasing electricity for the entire community through this program, Greenfield is working to make electricity costs more predictable and more stable, and gives participants more control over the price and environmental impact of the electricity they use.
What’s not to like.
Meanwhile, Bernardston residents are inaugurating a similar Community Choice Power Supply Program, projected to save ratepayers thousands on their power bills in the first half of 2017 through municipal electricity aggregation. Such savings are possible due to an agreement between Bernardston and Colonial Power Group, an aggregation consulting firm that works with local and state government to secure reduced electricity rates for communities across New England.
We hope the new year will see Greenfield’s northern neighbor enjoying the same benefits of group purchasing through a modern municipal service as has Greenfield for two years now. And we’re hoping aggregation of customers can work in other towns as well.