NORTHBOROUGH – Efforts to establish a municipal aggregation program in Northborough are progressing.
According to Assistant Town Administrator Becca Meekins, electric aggregation would give the Select Board the power to put electric rates out to bid for the entire town.
“Which, in theory, ensures lower electric rate and a stable electric rate for a certain period of time, depending on the procurement,” said Meekins during the Select Board’s July 17 meeting.
History
Back in 2016, Town Meeting approved electric aggregation.
In a memo from Meekins to the Select Board in February, after that Town Meeting vote, several communities that already had agreements in place with suppliers faced challenges. The third-party suppliers struggled to remain solvent after they signed contracts with municipalities and had to renege on their agreements.
The town ultimately opted not to move forward with aggregation.
Earlier this year, Select Board member Julianne Hirsh asked if electric aggregation could be placed on an agenda, noting that electric bills were a concern in town. In February, Meekins told the Select Board that the Town Meeting vote was still valid.
During the July 17 meeting, Meekins said the town put a request for proposal out in the spring, seeking consulting services to assist the town with developing an aggregation plan. Northborough received two proposals.
Ultimately, the town deemed the proposal from MassPowerChoice to be the most advantageous.
According to their website, MassPowerChoice is an aggregation services company and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Peregrine Energy Group, which was founded by former Massachusetts Energy Commissioner Paul Gromer.
“We are finalizing a contract with MassPowerChoice this week,” she said.
Next steps
According to Meekins, adopting electric aggregation will take several phases.
The first phase — which the town is about to enter — is to develop an aggregation plan. The plan will include several options for power.
After the plan is developed, an electric rate will be procured, and then the aggregation program will be launched. The last phase involves the ongoing management of the program.
However, Meekins cautioned the Select Board that the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) was still backed up when it comes to approving aggregation plans.
“I don’t really want to put an estimate on it, but we’re looking at 12 months,” she said.
Select Board Chair Mitch Cohen attended a Massachusetts Municipal Association conference earlier this year that included a session featuring a DOER staff member.
“It seems to take 12 to 24 months from when a town submits to them for review until they send it back to the town,” Cohen said. “[DOER] say that they are working on accelerating that.”
In the meantime, Meekins hopes that there will be outreach within the next month, depending on scheduling.
“The faster we — meaning staff, the board, the community — can put together the plan, the faster we can get it to DOER so that they can get begin their review. That’s the goal,” Meekins said. “The sooner we get the clock ticking, the sooner we’ll get the approval back, the sooner we can go out to bid to secure the rate, the sooner we can launch the program.”
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