Electricity plan should save money

Electricity plan should save money
Residents expected to get 10 percent off their bill

Andrew Mansfield Reporter GARDNER  The city is one step closer to enacting a plan that could save consumers money on their electricity bills by pooling residents together under a common supplier. During the recent City Council meeting, Mayor Mark Hawke presented councilors with a municipal aggregation plan presented by the consultant Colonial Power Group, which councilors unanimously approved. “I look forward to working with the City Council to enact the aggregation plan and working to save the citizens of the city of Gardner money on their monthly electric bills,” said Hawke. The City Council met with Colonial Power Group, a Marlborough company, and Global Partners, a Waltham company, in May to discuss the possibility of having Gardner seek a common energy supplier. Colonial Power is the primary consultant and manages aggregation plans for 43 communities in Massachusetts, including Lowell, Win­chendon, Lunenburg and Lancaster. Brian Murphy of Colonial Power spoke about the potential savings an aggregation plan could bring residents. He gave the example of Lowell, saying in 2015 utility rates were reduced by a total $6.6 million, which proportionally for Gardner would be more than $1 million. “I was actually very impressed with the group that came to speak with us,” said Councilor Nathan Boudreau. Colonial Power’s website states that its plans can be as much as 10 percent lower than traditional plans under basic service. A main draw to an aggregation plan is that it can lead to fixed utility rates over two or three years, avoiding a spike in rates over wintertime. The plan for Gardner will have the consultant negotiate rates for power supply, thus allowing the city to “take control of energy prices” as “it brings together the buying power of more than 20,000 consumers.” Boudreau said he’s seen aggregation plans work in other communities and he’s happy to see it in Gardner. The plan involves residents on National Grid basic service being automatically enrolled to have their energy supplier determined through the plan. National Grid would still be the energy distributor for residents and the costs of energy supply would be incorporated into National Grid’s standard billing. Residents can opt out of the plan at any time, and those residents using a third-party supplier can become part of the plan if at any point they leave their current contract or it expires. Colonial Power anticipates that 97 percent of eligible consumers in Gardner will participate in the plan based on enrollment numbers from its other communities. Now that the council has approved the plan, the next step is for state approval. After that, a public hearing would occur. Through consultation with Colonial Power, Hawke would ultimately authorize the city to enter into a contract with an energy supplier, triggering a 30-day opt-out period for residents before service begins. Colonial Power is compensated by earning $0.001 per every kilowatt hour used. Given the steps still to go, there is not a definitive timeline yet on when consumers could have their energy supplier changed. In May, Murphy said he is hopeful by November a new utility rate can be negotiated before residents could otherwise face a rate increase as winter approaches.