Exeter investigates advisability of Community Power for residents and town
PRESS RELEASE - October 28th, 2021
Exeter investigates advisability of Community Power for residents and town
The Exeter Community Power Aggregation Committee (ECPAC) is developing a plan to allow residents and the town to purchase electricity directly from suppliers. Community Power programs allow for options to use renewable energy sources and enable participating towns to procure electricity for residents and businesses at lower cost. The plan will be submitted to the Select Board and, if approved, will be on the ballot for a town vote at the meeting in March 2022.
To be fair, the savings are not likely to be dramatic for residential users – typically about $50 to $75 annually. A more significant advantage, though, is that community power plans allow individual consumers to choose the amount of renewable energy in their electricity supply. For instance, a consumer could choose a low-cost plan with a renewable mix like that provided by their utility or choose an alternative plan with a larger proportion of renewables. Community Power plans do not lock consumers into their service; consumers can opt out of a plan at any time to return to the service provided by their utility ensuring no change to their electric supply. If Exeter adopts a Community Power program, Unitil would continue as the energy distributor, maintaining lines and poles, handling billing and customer service just as before.
The town too can benefit from a community power plan. Some of the savings from direct energy purchase can be used to fund projects in the town such as modernized metering, energy storage to provide resilience to power disruptions and price spikes, and the inclusion of local energy sources into the town’s electricity supply.
Community Power programs, which enable NH communities to adopt community power, had bipartisan support in the state legislature and from Governor Sununu. Keene, Hanover, Nashua, and Harrisville are some of the NH municipalities in the process of implementing community power programs. Community Power Programs have operated successfully in several states for many years.
The ECPAC will be holding information sessions for residents and businesses beginning in November. The first information session will be live on Exeter TV Channel 98 as well as Exeter TV’s Facebook page on November 17th at 7:00 pm. Those looking to join in on the discussion can register for a Zoom webinar to submit questions using the Q&A feature. The information session will consist of a pre-recorded panel discussion about Community Power followed by live Q&A with the panelists.
