ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
Town Planner Peter Kane sheds light on ConEdison’s plan to supply Swampscott with electricity.
BY GAYLA CAWLEY
SWAMPSCOTT — Beginning Jan. 1, residents and businesses will begin to save money on their electricity bill when the Swampscott Community Power Program goes into effect, providing an electricity supply alternative to National Grid’s basic service.
ConEdison Solutions was selected by the town as the electricity supplier for the Swampscott Community Power Program, a municipal electricity aggregation program meant to provide residents with a “cost-effective, transparent electricity supply alternative to National Grid,” according to a town release.
Town Planner Peter Kane said the town went to the state’s Department of Public Utilities to make an aggregation plan “to essentially purchase electricity in bulk on behalf of residents and small businesses.” He said the state department approved the town’s plan over the summer. He said the new program is a way to reduce cost for residents who use basic service with National Grid.
To start up the program, which will bring 100 percent green energy to residents and businesses, the town signed a 12-month contract with ConEdison Solutions.
“The first year will be for us to see how well it works for residents,” Kane said of the new program. “After 12 months, we will look for a new supplier and go out for new bids.”
Kane said those who use basic service will continue to receive their electricity bill from National Grid, but they will be automatically enrolled in the town’s community power program, which offers a fixed contracted rate of $10.465 per kilowatt hour. Residents can choose to opt out when they receive information about the program by mail in December.
“What we’re doing is giving people an opportunity to use Swampscott service instead of basic service,” Kane said.
Kane said those who use alternative electricity suppliers will have to wait for those contracts to end before they can enroll in the Swampscott Community Power Program.
The fixed rate for the community power program is lower than the recently announced National Grid Basic Service winter rates, and will not fluctuate like basic service rates do. According to a town release, the fixed rate will offer an average household savings of $18.01 a month over National Grid’s winter basic service rates.
Kane said the basic service rates from National Grid might be lower in the summer than the town’s contracted rate, but that “in the long run, it will be cheaper.”
According to the release, “the program will deliver 100 percent green energy to all electric customers in Swampscott and will include an additional five percent new wind energy over and above the state requirements for new energy.”
“Swampscott Community Power will offer residents and businesses an alternative to National Grid’s electricity supply that they know they can trust,” Town Administrator Thomas Younger said in a statement. “And it will unite Swampscott’s residents and businesses in a truly meaningful, joint effort to address climate change. I am so pleased to be a part of offering the community this choice.”