By Debra Parkhurst
At their meeting on May 30, with the advice of the Bedford Energy Task Force, Bedford Selectmen joined with MAPC (Metropolitan Area Planning Council) in their choice of Good Energy as the “selected vendor” for consulting services for Community Electricity Aggregation. Good Energy works for communities to procure lower prices for electricity by going to national energy providers. It already provides aggregations for 290,000 households and 745,000 residents in Massachusetts with another nine communities under agreement.
Good Energy is also a leader in national municipal aggregation, serving over 200 municipal aggregations and 2,500,000 residents. This nationwide accounting includes over 390,000 households with 100 percent renewable energy and savings of over $150,000,000 for municipal aggregations.Good Energy provides staff for education and outreach, plan development and implementation. They will also provide market analysis, develop relationships with national energy suppliers, create competitive bids, and manage the aggregation plans.
Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 164, Section134(a)was established to allow a “municipality or group of municipalities … to solicit bids, broker, and contract for electric power and energy services for such customers…. enter into agreements for services to facilitate the sale and purchase of electric energy and other related services.” This increases the ability of a community to compete for lower electricity rates or choose cleaner or renewable energy sources.
Eversource will continue to deliver and maintain electrical service and is “neutral” as to where the energy source comes from. In the past, Eversource was able to make money off the supply. Good Energy will be able to lock in a certain rate for the energy supply for a determined amount of time, anywhere from 12 to 36 months. According to Good Energy, the Northeast region “loading zone” will experience a rise in rates in general, and they hope to be able to offset that. It was noted that a resident on basic service can opt out.
Since joining forces, Good Energy and MAPC worked together on a program (Community Electricity Aggregation PLUS) to provide more renewable energy sources. Several communities are already active participants with 5 percent green energy components, while many communities are approved, but not yet active. Most have added 5 percent “green” as part of their energy source, while one – Brookline – has chosen to go with 25 percent “green.” Bedford can go with the 5 percent green energy option or even choose to go higher.
Depending on the timing, Good Energy will try to get Bedford’s bid out before next winter. Following local approval, the agreement goes to the Department of Public Utilities for further review, which may take two and half months.
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