TMLWP Meeting tonight!
Ahead of winter, town signs fixed-rate power agreement
Eryn Dion
News Staff Writer
PHILLIPSTON — With electricity prices predicted to skyrocket throughout the winter months, the Board of Selectmen voted Monday to sign a contract with Hampshire Power to supply municipal buildings with electricity at a fixed cost for the next year.
Electric company National Grid has previously stated that customers should expect a 37 percent increase in their electricity bills this winter.
Rhonda Whitney, the board’s administrative assistant, said she received a contract from National Grid with a proposed rate of $15.228 cents-per-kilowatt hour beginning Nov. 1. While rates still have to be approved at the state level, Ms. Whitney was confident the amount would hold up.
“The woman I spoke to said in all the years she’s worked for National Grid, they’ve never been denied,” Ms. Whitney stated.
The town also received an offer from Hampshire Power — a subsidiary of the Hampshire Council of Governments — for a rate of $12.81-cents-per-kilowatt hour on a one-year contract and $12.30-cents-per-kilowatt hour on a two-year agreement.
“This is guaranteed,” Ms. Whitney explained. “You sign on for 12 months and it’s never going to go higher than $12.81 cents.”
Last year, the selectmen signed a contract with the Hampshire Council of Governments and Hampshire Power promising low-cost electricity for town buildings — as long as the group could find a buyer to transmit the power at those rates. The buyer was never found and department heads found their electricity bills rising exponentially, with Fire Chief Richard Stevens reporting his bill was over three times higher than normal.
Last month, the selectmen voted to break their agreement with Hampshire; however, Ms. Whitney explained that the current contract offered a fixed rate with no fine print.
“It’s a fixed price versus a fluctuating price, which is where we got burned last year,” she said.
The selectmen were hesitant about entering another agreement with the power company, but agreed that the fixed cost at a substantially lower rate than National Grid would be beneficial to Phillipston.
“It seems like a no-brainer,” commented Selectman John Telepciak.
“It’s a different circumstance than we had in the previous year.”
It will be interesting to see how our electric bills look this winter. J.D. is stuck to MMWEC like glue, so our Light Commissioners will not be looking any where else for low rates. Everyone should attend tonights meeting but know ahead of time, J.D. will cry about how he is getting his bills from the treasurer. It is a very narrow view he has of the work our people do in Town Hall, and since the Light and Water have not been willing to pony up enough money to carry their own weight, I would tell him tough luck. He will go through the same song and dance, once for the Water Dept. and then again for the Light Department, Just incase the Commissioners did not hear it the first time. There will be news about the new truck and how that is progressing, and they should speak to the work at the Templeton Developmental Center. Like I have said, a meeting not to be missed. Bev.
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