Marlborough – Underscoring its continued commitment to consumer choice, local control of energy prices, rate stability and cost savings, the city of Marlborough has announced new rates for the municipal opt-out aggregation program for eligible residential and business electricity customers.
The program's residential and commercial rate will be 7.95 cents per kilowatt-hour. National Grid's residential rate is 8.265 cents per kilowatt-hour. The typical Marlborough residential consumer will save about $4 per month under these new rates. The new pricing phase of the program begins on the November 2011 meter reading for residential and commercial ratepayers.
The state's Community Choice Power Supply initiative provides city residents and small businesses with energy price stability, and also offers opportunities for potential cost savings. The program creates competition among energy suppliers to help ensure competitive rates and to endow the city with local control over energy supplies. Acting on behalf of its 16,000 participating consumers, the city of Marlborough selected ConEdison Solutions because of the provider's ability to stabilize rates, its capacity to maximize savings opportunities, and its strong record of performance as an energy supplier in the Northeast.
Under the state program, services provided to local ratepayers by National Grid are now divided into two parts. The first part, which remains regulated by the state, involves the physical delivery of power supplies over the wires to consumers. National Grid, which directly charges ratepayers for this service, continues to maintain these wires and continues to read meters. National Grid remains responsible for maintaining the day-to-day reliability and quality of delivery provided to ratepayers.
The second part of electric service involves supplying the actual power running through these wires. This component is now a competitive service. Under the Community Choice Power Supply program, these supplies now come from ConEdison Solutions, which is categorized as a “competitive power supplier.” Charges for the supply component of electric service are incorporated into normal bills that consumers receive from National Grid, which indicates supply-related charges and other standard billing information.
All eligible consumers of National Grid “basic service” are automatically enrolled in the Community Choice Power Supply program. Ratepayers may “opt-out” of the program by choosing another competitive power supplier or by choosing to default back to “basic service” supplies provided by National Grid. Consumers may return to National Grid's “basic service” alternative by contacting Colonial Power Group at 1-508-485-5858 and asking to cancel their accounts, with no penalty charge.
