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Date: 10/11/2022
EASTHAMPTON – Residents will benefit from efforts by the city to develop municipal aggregation, which will make clean power available for everyone, even business owners. Jamie Paquette, chair of the Energy Advisory Committee, also gushed about community solar, a way almost anyone can use and promote green energy.
“The advantage is, you don’t have to put solar on your home to enjoy this,” Paquette said. “Renters can take advantage of this.”
Community solar arrangements divvy up the electricity produced by a large solar field among many small power users. Residents may participate in community solar through a local project, of which there is one, or a project elsewhere.
“There is a project in Easthampton that has subscriptions available,” Paquette said, “but I bought my share from a solar field in Hancock…There are also carve outs for low-income. They need to get some subscribers who are lower income.”
A solar company figures out a consumer’s average consumption. That consumption is a small percentage of the total output of a solar field. The consumer pays for that small percentage of the solar energy generated by the field, then receives that amount as a discount on their electric bill.
The added benefit is that each participating consumer increases the demand specifically for solar energy. And there’s a discount.
“Consumers automatically get a 10 percent discount on electricity,” Paquette said. “If I pay the solar company $150, I get a $165 credit on my electricity bill.”
Consumers get the discount, but also benefit by burning clean solar energy. Community solar finances the creation of sources of green energy and also reduces the demand for fossil fuels. Energy consumers continue to receive a bill from Eversource, National Grid or their local supplier.
Paquette said, “It’s designed to bring solar to more people.”
River Valley Co-op, which opened a branch on Rt. 10, near the border with Northampton, installed a solar canopy over its parking lot. Paquette said that solar project is still seeking subscribers. The project also has a stronger need for low income and marginalized participants.
“They’re trying to find people in Easthampton to take advantage of that, to sign up, and get some of the power River Valley Co-op is generating,” Paquette said.
Paquette, who works in the solar industry, is also enthusiastic about the municipal aggregation program the city has undertaken.
“Municipal aggregation allows for towns and municipalities to aggregate the purchasing of all their residents and businesses, all the customers, then go out and take that aggregate demand and find an electricity provider, who will supply everybody in the municipality,” Paquette said.
Municipal aggregation enables the city to negotiate the aggregate rate within the municipality, and allows the municipality to negotiate rates for different products. Those products will include the 4 or 5 percent of renewable energy required by the state in every electricity mix, but may have greater flexibility in the mix of energy sources.
Consumers, Paquette explained, “If they want to opt into a higher percentage of renewals — maybe they want 25 percent, maybe they want 50 percent. Maybe they want 100 percent renewables — and they’re willing to pay a little more for that…the town can turn around and negotiate that, negotiate which products they want to offer.”
Paquette, on the committee since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, said that well over 100 municipalities in the Bay State buy power through aggregation programs. Greenfield was one of the first cities to organize an aggregation program. Hadley has a program in place, while Belchertown’s program is not yet operational.
“It’s a well worn path and it’s allowed by state law,” Paquette said.
In Easthampton, participation in the program is automatic.
Residents who decline to participate will have to formally opt out. There is no obligation until the end of the process. The city is not required to aggregate, now that a process is underway, and at any point City Council may vote to shelve the program, based on the benefits that will or will not accrue.
Energy Advisory Committee members met with the mayor and City Council, and city officials are now working on legal documents with the help of a consultant. The aggregation process has many steps and legal hurdles. Approval of the Dept. of Energy Resources and Dept. of Public Utilities is required.
“We’re talking to a company called Good Energy, from eastern Mass.,” Paquette said. The program is in the early stages. “They’ve been helping us understand the process, what comes next. We would need to get a final contract in place, with them, then the mayor would sign that. Then there’s a process of approvals.”
Are savings guaranteed? No.
Aggregation may give the city a stronger negotiating position, from a pricing standpoint, a volume discount. Energy markets change quickly and utilities cannot foresee rates. Savings can’t be guaranteed.
Paquette emphasized the benefits residents will see cannot always be seen. Municipal aggregation puts pressure on utility companies to find and develop green energy sources, a healthy development for everyone.
“You’re encouraging more,” Paquette said. “All this rolls back up to the utilities and regulators, and they say, we have to figure out, we have to be able to buy all these renewables to satisfy consumer demand, for solar, for wind, for hybrid projects, and that encourages development of those projects.”