• By Matt Petry | mpetry@northofboston.com
AMESBURY — After nearly eight years of trying, the door has been opened for the city to save its residents money on their electricity bills by setting up what officials called a “community choice power supply program aggregation plan.”
City Councilor Anthony Rinaldi made the announcement during Tuesday’s City Council meeting after providing some background on the process that began in 2016 with the City Council authorizing then-Mayor Ken Gray to develop a power aggregation plan for the city.
In 2021, the City Council authorized Colonial Power Group Inc. to submit an Amesbury aggregation plan to the state. The State House of Representatives sent the bill to the Department of Public Utilities in July of that same year. Last Friday, the DPU approved the plan, according to Rinaldi, meaning that the city can now enter the open market with the help of Colonial Power.
“This was a longtime coming,” City Council President Scott Mandeville said, in response to Rinaldi’s announcement.
Amesbury will be following the lead of Salisbury and Newburyport.
In May of 2022, Salisbury Town Manager Neil Harrington signed a three-year renewal agreement with First Point Power through January 2025 to obtain electricity for Salisbury at a fixed rate of 11.134 cents per kilowatt hour for all residential and business customers of National Grid.
Newburyport signed a new 24-month contract with electricity supplier Constellation New Energy which took effect in November, locking in a rate of 14.809 cents per kilowatt hour for the next two years, giving participants stability and protection from market volatility, according to officials.
Newburyport launched its electricity program in January 2023 in an effort to develop an energy program that would be stable and affordable. From inception through May 2023, the program has saved residents and small businesses over $2.2 million in electricity costs as compared to National Grid Basic Service.
As of Wednesday, the current rates for National Grid Basic Service are 18.213 cents per kilowatt hour for residential service, and 17.262 cents per kilowatt hour for commercial customers.
Now the city will work with Colonial Power in the coming months to put together an education program and all the requirements needed to implement aggregation for the city.
Colonial Power Group Inc.’s President Mark Cappadona emphasized that the program works on an opt-out basis.
“This allows the city of Amesbury to go out and procure energy on behalf of basic service customers in Amesbury and give them a choice,” Cappadona said.
He said that 30 days prior to starting, residents will be notified and have the choice to leave the program. Should they chose to opt out but later decide they want to join, they will have that option.
Currently, Colonial Power is waiting to check out the marketplace and see where things stand with Amesbury as it goes through budget season.
“I deal with cities all the time and I know that June is a fairly difficult month to do other things because budget season is most important,” Cappadona said.
He said they will be talking with city officials soon to discuss next steps.
“We’re supposed to be meeting with them over the next week or so, just to discuss timelines and what they’re thinking, and what their schedule would be, just to show them some pricing, see where market conditions are and what they’re thinking,” Cappadona said.
Regarding a possible timeline, he said he expects an opportunity in the marketplace to possibly get a program up as early as this fall.
Matt Petry covers Amesbury and Salisbury for The Daily News of Newburyport. Email him at: mpetry@northofboston.com.