ASHLAND, MA – Ashland residents and business owners will save more than $1 million annually thanks to the newly created Ashland Community Choice Power Supply program.
The Town of Ashland, working with Colonial Power Group, is pleased to announce it has entered into a 12-month agreement to bring significant energy cost-savings to the town’s residents and small businesses through this initiative.
“We recognize that spikes in the cost of electricity can be burdensome for Ashland residents,” said Town Manager Michael Herbert. “We are excited to work with Colonial Power to provide a lower cost energy option for the benefit of our residents and small business owners.”
The new rate will help residents and business owners achieve considerable savings on electricity costs. Ashland’s residents will experience an annual savings of up to 20 percent in their monthly energy bills and the program will provide a combined savings of as much as $106,000 per month for the town’s homes and businesses.
“This program provides price stability, local control, and competition while also lowering the burden of energy costs for Ashland’s residents and business community,” said Mark Cappadona, President of Colonial Power Group, Inc. “We commend Ashland’s Board of Selectmen and Town Manager Michael Herbert for their forward-thinking approach to energy purchasing. By taking this action, they are helping to save residents and business owners money on their electricity costs.”
Under the Ashland Community Choice Power Supply program, residents will not notice any change in their electricity service. The only discernable difference will be that Verde Energy USA, the selected electricity supplier for the Community Choice program, will be printed under the “Generation Charges” of monthly bills. Residents and small business owners will continue to receive one bill from Eversource Energy and to send payments to Eversource Energy for processing. There will be no interruption in billing, power, or customer service.
Colonial Power Group is the leading aggregation consulting firm in Massachusetts. Municipal electricity aggregation allows cities and towns to pool the electrical consumption of all ratepayers in their jurisdictions and competitively procure lower cost electricity supply on behalf of the participants. The aggregation allows the municipality to obtain better pricing than individual residents and business owners could due to economies of scale. Colonial Power works with state officials, utility executives, and energy industry leaders to facilitate the purchase of electricity at a rate lower than basic service rates.
Colonial Power Group, Inc., a Massachusetts energy consulting company, was chosen in a competitive process to design, implement, and administer the program on behalf of Ashland. Verde Energy USA, with headquarters in Norwalk, Conn., was also selected through a competitive process. The cost savings for Ashland residents and businesses will begin with the May 2016 meter reads (June billing).
No action is required by ratepayers to participate in this cost-saving program. The program will be operated on an opt-out basis, meaning that all Ashland residential and business customers currently on Eversource’s basic service will be automatically enrolled into the program unless they choose to opt out.
Town Manager Michael Herbert and representatives of Colonial Power Group will discuss the cost-saving energy initiative on a local cable television program which will be shown during the week of March 21st. Additionally, representatives of Colonial Power Group will be in attendance at the April 6th Board of Selectmen’s meeting to discuss the initiative.
More detailed information will be included with consumer notification letters that will be mailed from the town at the end of March.