By Cliff Clark | The Westfield News | cclark@thereminder.com
SOUTHWICK — While it’s taken over two years for all the pieces to come together, residents will soon have a chance to lower their electricity bills now that the town has announced its municipal aggregation program will come online in December with the first bills showing the lower rate in January.
“A resident came forward asking that the town look into an aggregation program for the town and the Select Board looked into it,” said Select Board member Diane Gale, noting that former Select Board member Jason Perron led the investigation and Chief Administrative Officer Nicole Parker was also intimately involved. “We are thankful to our residents when they reach out, and any way we can help save everyone some hard-earned money is well worth the effort.”
Last month, Parker, with authority given to her by the Select Board, chose First Point Power to serve as the electric supplier for the town.
Starting in January, every residential power customer who is currently on Eversource Basic Service will automatically be included in Community Source Power Program Basic Service Program, and for the following 35 months have their electricity billed at 13.366 cents per kWh, according to the town’s announcement.
However, the program only affects the supply portion of a residential monthly electric bill. It will not affect the delivery portion of the monthly bill. Eversource will continue to deliver your electricity but First Point Power will provide electricity, according to the announcement.
In the next week, the town will be sending a “Consumer Notification Letter” to every customer currently on Eversource Basic Service to provide information about the CSPP’s Basic Service.
Electricity customers already using a third-party supplier will be sent an informational postcard.
To provide more information about the program, information sessions will be held by the town and representatives of Colonial Power Group at 11 a.m., Monday, Oct. 27, in the Senior Center, 454 College Highway and at 6 p.m., Monday, October 27, at the Town Hall, 454 College Highway.
Those using Eversource Basic don’t need to do anything to participate in the program, they will be automatically enrolled.
However, there is an option to opt out of the program using a card that will be included in the letter. Customers wanting to opt out must sign the card and return it or visit www.colonialpowergroup.com/southwick and click the opt-out button and follow the instructions or by calling 888-875-1711.
Eligible consumers who are dissatisfied with services may also communicate directly with First Point Power or Colonial Power Group to assist with the implementation of the plan by email at www.colonialpowergroup.com/contact or by calling 866-485-5858.
Eligible consumers may also opt out or opt in at any time by contacting the First Point Power and as often as they please, including monthly.
For those currently using a third-party supplier and want to participate in the CSPP, they should contact that supplier to determine if there are any early termination fees for leaving their supply.
Electricity customers with third-party contracts should weigh the pros and cons of the town’s program before deciding.
Current Eversource customers will be given the choice to opt in to an alternative plan, which would typically include a higher share of renewable energy at a higher price per kWh.
The town will offer an Optional Green Product, which provides 37% National Wind Renewable Energy Certificates (REC) above the state’s current minimum requirement for renewables, which is 63% in 2025.
This is being offered at 13.477 cents per kWh for 35 months — from December 2025 to November 2028.
It will also offer the Southwick Optional Green 5 Product, which provides 5% MA Class I RECs above the state’s requirement for these renewables at 27% in 2025; 30% in 2026; 33% in 2027; 36% in 2028.
This product is being offered at 13.561 cents per kWh for 35 months — from December 2025 to November 2028.
To choose one of the products, www.colonialpowergroup.com/southwick or you may call First Point at 888-875-1711 and ask to be enrolled in one.
The program doesn’t cost the town anything.
Colonial Power Group makes money from the town’s electricity customers using a predetermined formula of 0.1 cents for every kWh used.
As allowed by the statute, the town will charge an additional 0.1 cent per kWh.
In May 2023, Town Meeting approved an article that would let the town develop the aggregation program and several months later the Select Board chose Colonial Power Group to represent the town’s interest when negotiating electricity rates with a competitive supplier.
Colonial also submitted the town’s plan to the state’s Department of Energy Resources and Department for Public Utilities for approval.
However, the town had to wait because the DPU was in the process of streamlining the application process because of a significant backlog of towns waiting for their plans to be approved, some stretching back five years.
While the new regulations to streamline the process were being drafted, DPU officials told Colonial to go ahead and file the town’s application, even though the new application template wasn’t ready yet, which it did in May 2024.
However, when the DPU approved the streamlined process in early July 2024, it told the energy consultants handling dozens of pending municipal aggregation applications — there are several consultants in the state including Colonial — they needed to refile the applications using the new template.
In December 2024, the town was notified by the state’s DPU that it had approved the plan it developed with Colonial Power to negotiate with competitive suppliers to lock in electric rates, which have been historically higher than Eversource rate per kWh, for periods up to six months through the Southwick Community Choice Power Supply Program.
There was an expectation that once the program was approved, Colonial Power and the town would roll out the program.
However, last February Eversource’s kWh rate dipped dramatically to 11.7 cents per kWh, which was the lowest rate in the state, which delayed the rollout until now.
For more information, visit the town’s aggregation webpage.